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 political theory, making contributions to the study of democracy, accountability and citizenship. The contributions show an ability to reflect the current world that can later reflexively reverse our own self-understanding of reality, as Prof. Fernando Vallespin suggest us to do. I am now working on a book about AI, democracy and accountability, with an original theoretical dashboard drawn from political theory, and examples drawn from different countries. An introduction to this book: “Accountability in Artificial Intelligence," has been presented in September, at the XVI AECPA Congress in Girona, and it is available as a preprint in this blog post.

This post highlights some contributions and publications that I have undertaken since 2018. I am enclosing publications, from the most recent to the least. To get a copy, you may access them through the DOI, or contacting me by mail at olgagil at ucm dot es (olgagil arroba ucm punto es):

• Gil, Olga. 2022. “Public Participation in China and the West.”   SocArXiv (SocOpen) doi:10.31235/osf.io/dapvj. You may access the preprint here.
• Gil, Olga. 2022. “Accountability in Artificial Intelligence."  SocArXiv. (SocOpen) doi: 10.31235/osf.io/wckuf. You may access the preprint here.
• Gil, Olga. 2020 "The regulation of artificial intelligence, software-enabled technologies and big data.", en Revista de Privacidad y Derecho Digital. n. 18. Junio 2020. Pags 101-126. ISSN : 2444-​5762. Access: https://www.rdu.es/catalogo/detalle/No-18-Abril-Junio-RPDD-REV-DIG-18/ANO-V-48. You may access through the repository link.
• 2019. Gil, Olga; Cortés Cediel, María E.; Cantador, Iván. Citizen Participation and the Rise of Digital Media Platforms in Smart Governance International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR). You may access through the repository link.

Now, from the perspective of political theory, these are approximations that have enriched these works:

• Asking the effect of the doxa of the citizen, as Socrates would suggest, when there is the mediation of these tech platforms 
• Thinking about political issues with the aim of increasing the possibilities of truth and freedom in polity, as Margareth Canovan suggest we might do
• The creative construction of value reference schemes on empirical bases: "the kind of historical interpretation with which we are familiar today has driven from theory it's unique function, that of creatively constructing a valuational frame of reference" David Easton suggests.
• Following Michael Freeden, these works reflect upon critical distance, which he conceives as the need to see the arguments angle after angle.
  The present as a moment open to future transformation, H Arendt
• These publications also focus on procedures, as “procedures always involve substantial ethical commitments”, as political theorist Chantal Mouffe states.

Following professor Fernando Vallespin:

• These are works that are explicitly designed with a political intent but at the same time scientifically falsifiable.

• These are works where historical structures are shown, so that we might help "to justify social action strategies from the analysis of objective historical structures"

I am also working around the question stated by Jostein Gaarder – Professor of Philosophy and History of Ideas: "The most important question today is how we can save life on Earth". In this case, my interest is very much drawn from the interest of my students.

2022 Olga GIL,  Ruiz-Campillo, & García Fernández, C. Ready for Climate Change? 

En: Climate Change in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Region. Walter Leal Filho · Evangelos Manolas (Eds.) ISBN 978-3-030-78565-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78566-6. Springer Nature 

2021. Olga Gil. "Is There an Environmental Ethic Embedded in Long Term Commitments?" Public Administration, Information Tech., Vol. 37, Elsa Estevez et al. (Eds): Smart Cities and Smart Governance. Springer.

ARTICULO CIENTÍFICO: LA REGULACIÓN DE LA INTELIGENCIA ARTIFICIAL DESDE LA PERSPECTIVA DE LA TEORIA DE LA DEMOCRACIA

La regulación de la inteligencia artificial es un tema clave de la administración pública, que toca de forma tangencial con otras disciplinas como la teoría política, la filosofía, la economía o la sociología. En el nuevo artículo de Olga Gil se abre un debate sobre cuestiones básicas que hay que plantearse a la hora de regular la inteligencia artificial y se propone “El cuarto poder independiente.” como un “ejercicio de la responsabilidad en el gobierno inteligente: regulación de la inteligencia artificial, tecnologías basadas en sofware y big data.” 

EL TRABAJO

El artículo se publica en el número 18 de la Revista Privacidad y Derecho Digital, dirigida por Pablo García Mexía: A fourth government branch. accountability in smart government development: the regulation artificial intelligence, software- enabled technologies and big data

Es posible acceder al artículo a través de la Revista: Enlace

La doctora Gil es miembro del  Departamento de Historia, Teorías y Geografía Políticas de la Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología y del Instituto Complutense de Ciencias de la Administración (ICCA)..

MAS INFORMACION SOBRE EL TRABAJO, EN INGLÉS (lengua original del trabajo)

The following work argues that ideas, being the cement of society, create obstacles for integrating governance of artificial intelligence into the world of devices. This work also posits that the features of artificial intelligence provide an opportunity to revise government priorities from a multilevel perspective. On ethical grounds, this work identifies the trade-off today that results from the simultaneous push for greater and faster technological advancement and innovation, and human wellbeing, which is not, by default, guaranteed. This trade-off, however, could be achieved in the future but is currently unresolved due to the current state of research, as well as the limits on the development of practical and applied private and public policy instruments. Finally, the article proposes a fourth independent government branch that would be endowed to ensure that algorithms in present democracies conform to constitutional principles. The purpose of adding this fourth governmental branch within modern democracies would be to enshrine the accountability of artificial intelligence development, including software-enabled technologies, and the implementation of policies based on big data within the context of a wider democratic regime.

MAS INFORMACION SOBRE EL TRABAJO, EN CASTELLANO

El trabajo defiende que las ideas, como cemento de las sociedades, hacen problemático consagrar la gobernanza de la inteligencia artificial al mundo de los dispositivos, y explica porqué. El trabajo también defiende que las características de la inteligencia artificial suponen una oportunidad para revisar las prioridades de los gobiernos desde una perspectiva multinivel, desde el nivel local hasta niveles supranacionales. En términos éticos, el trabajo enfatiza la tensión existente entre impulsar un mayor y más rápido avance de la tecnología centrado en la innovación, y el bienestar humano -donde este bienestar no está garantizado automáticamente por defecto. Esta tensión podría resolverse mediante un juego positivo en el que los actores participantes ganan, un resultado que a día de hoy no se ha producido ni se ha resuelto, ni en el ámbito de la investigación ni en el desarrollo de instituciones o instrumentos de gobierno públicos y privados. Finalmente, el artículo propone el desarrollo democrático de una cuarta rama gubernamental independiente, dotada para garantizar que los algoritmos de las democracias se ajusten a los principios de las Constituciones. El propósito de esta cuarta rama del gobierno en las democracias modernas sería consagrar la responsabilidad del desarrollo de la inteligencia artificial, incluidas las tecnologías habilitadas por software, y la implementación de políticas basadas en grandes datos, dentro de un contexto de régimen democrático más amplio.

PALABRAS CLAVE: Inteligencia artificial, big data, transparencia, responsabilidad, democracia, políticas públicas, regulación

KEY WORDS: artificial intelligence, big data, accountability, governance, democracy, public policies, regulation

También es posible encontrar el trabajo en el repositorio Complutense: Enlace