31 March 2022
Global Inequities in Algorithms
Algorithms can seem like esoteric subjects, often relegated to the realm of engineers and technology companies, given the technical nature of algorithmic design. Algorithms, when applied, take on a social character that invites us into peer beneath the hood to understand both their function and application. Given the growing ubiquitousness of algorithms in our daily lives, policymakers are looking to capture algorithms within regulatory mechanisms. This article seeks to understand the inequalities that undergird algorithmic applications, in order to understand how to regulate these systems. Continue reading >>
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30 March 2022
Proactive Contestation of AI Decision-making
Liberal democracies have an artificial intelligence problem. The disruptive impact and complex harms of artificial intelligence (AI) decision-making, including their intrusive surveillance, unjustifiable biases, and deceptive manipulations matter in all societies, but they matter more in open, pluralist democracies, which depend on messy human accountability processes. AI decision-making systems are notoriously resistant to demands for external scrutiny. Continue reading >>
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28 March 2022
Our Minds, Monitored and Manipulated
Well-functioning democracies require a well-informed citizenry, an open social and political discourse and absence of opaque or deceitful influence. Western democracies have however always been prone to power asymmetries and to coercion and the curbing of these freedoms through oppression and propaganda. Adoption of AI and datafication has raised concerns whether society is sliding into an Orwellian nightmare, where all of our actions are being scrutinized, controlled and manipulated at a scale that has never been possible before. So, what is it exactly that makes this time so different? Continue reading >>
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28 March 2022
Artificial Intelligence Must Be Used According to the Law, or Not at All
Democracy requires to strengthen the Rule of Law wherever public or private actors use algorithmic systems. The law must set out the requirements on AI necessary in a democratic society and organize appropriate accountability and oversight. To this end, the European Commission made several legislative proposals. In addition to the discussion on how to use algorithmic systems lawfully, the question when it is beneficial to use them deserves more attention. Continue reading >>
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06 November 2020
Männer fahren LKW, Frauen erziehen Kinder
Facebook spielt Stellenanzeigen in diskriminierender Weise an die Nutzer:innen seiner Plattformen aus. Untersuchungen von AlgorithmWatch zeigen, dass sich Facebook an groben Genderstereotypen zu orientieren scheint, um die Zielgruppe von Anzeigen zu bestimmen – auch wenn die Auftraggeber:innen die Ausschreibungen genderneutral gestalten. Die Untersuchungen von AlgorithmWatch machen deutlich, dass das klassische Antidiskriminierungsrecht, insbesondere das AGG in seiner aktuellen Form, den Herausforderungen einer sogenannten „Algorithmendiskriminierung“ nicht gewachsen ist. Insbesondere die mangelnden Sanktionsmöglichkeiten von Diskriminierungen ohne identifizierbares Opfer, werden mit dem zunehmenden Einsatz algorithmischer Systeme mehr und mehr zum Problem. Continue reading >>25 April 2018
Harnessing Artificial Intelligence the European Way
Will 10 April 2018 be remembered by many as the day of Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before the US Senate? The hearing was covered by the media in all aspects down to the tie he was wearing. But that was not the only important event taking place on that day, and maybe not even the most important one: I am talking about the Declaration on Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence, signed on the same day but hardly noticed. And yet its impact in the long term might exceed that of the current scandal about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica by far. Continue reading >>
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