The past few years have seen considerable interest in developing credit models to include new data sources. This is particualrly valuable in developing economies where most people have no relevant data associated with them, which means they cannot currently access credit and other financial services.

The scope of use of people's scores is also expanding, and nowhere more so than in China, where the state and private enterprises are attempting to introduce 'social credit systems' in to support the economic and political system.

What is the truth about these systems and these practices? What can we learn from recent experiments, and what are the benefits and risks of using data-based metrics in calculating social risk and entitlement.