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DEMOCRACY, ACCOUNTABILITY, CITIZENSHIP IN MY WORKS 2022-2018

I am studying Tech Governance since 1992 and focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) since 2018. I am heavily  introducing the axis of poli...

Wednesday 21 November 2018

ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCE, DEMOCRACY AND POWER THEORY

On an article published in The Atlantic in June 2018, Henry Kissinger writes about artificial intelligence (AI) and argues that philosophically, intellectually -in every way- human societies are unprepared for its rise. Kissinger goes on to argue that the Enlightenment started with essentially philosophical insights spread by a new technology, the printing press, and we could be facing now how enlightment itself ends with this new AI technology. Kissinger article follows up on a report published by the Brookings Institution on how artificial intelligence is transforming the world that I strongly recommend. Challenges facing AI are indeed strong for democracy and power relations in societies.

The three arguments made by Kissinger facing Articial Intelligence

Kissinger argues first of all, that AI may achieve unintended results, since we might not be sure that AI is able to comprehend the context that informs its instructions. Secondly, Kissinger argues that in achieving intended goals, AI may change human thought processes and human values.There are further questions "Do we want children to learn values through discourse with untethered algorithms? Should we protect privacy by restricting AI’s learning about its questioners? If so, how do we accomplish these goals?" And thirdly -argues Kissinger- "AI may reach intended goals, but be unable to explain the rationale for its conclusions. In certain fields—pattern recognition, big-data analysis, gaming—AI’s capacities already may exceed those of humans. If its computational power continues to compound rapidly, AI may soon be able to optimize situations in ways that are at least marginally different, and probably significantly different, from how humans would optimize them. But at that point, will AI be able to explain, in a way that humans can understand, why its actions are optimal?"

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