Climate change and the political pathways of AI:  The technocracy-democracy dilemma in light of artificial intelligence and human agency

Mark Coeckelbergh; Henrik Skaug Sætra

doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102406

Climate change and the political pathways of AI: The technocracy-democracy dilemma in light of artificial intelligence and human agency

Mark Coeckelbergh, Henrik Skaug Sætra

Department of Philosophy

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

It is generally thought that artificial intelligence (AI) has a significant impact on politics and democracy. Meanwhile, the technology is also often hailed a solution to key societal and environmental challenges. It raises questions regarding, for example, how we can and should deal with climate change. This article links and discusses these issues by putting them in the context of a technocracy-democracy dilemma and by using the concept of critical junctures. Then it identifies two political pathways of AI and critically discusses their underlying assumptions. This offers a useful framework for further discussion of the relations between AI, climate change, and democracy, and enables the examination of important issues for the politics of technology, such as the role of human expertise vis-à-vis artificial intelligence, the problems raised by techno-solutionism, and the question at what level of governance AI and climate change should be addressed.

Original language	English
Article number	102406
Journal	Technology in Society
Volume	75
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102406
Publication status	Published - Nov 2023

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

603122 Philosophy of technology

Keywords

Artificial intelligence
Climate change
Critical junctures
Democracy
Politics of technology
Technocracy

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102406Licence: CC BY 4.0

https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:2044720Licence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

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abstract = "It is generally thought that artificial intelligence (AI) has a significant impact on politics and democracy. Meanwhile, the technology is also often hailed a solution to key societal and environmental challenges. It raises questions regarding, for example, how we can and should deal with climate change. This article links and discusses these issues by putting them in the context of a technocracy-democracy dilemma and by using the concept of critical junctures. Then it identifies two political pathways of AI and critically discusses their underlying assumptions. This offers a useful framework for further discussion of the relations between AI, climate change, and democracy, and enables the examination of important issues for the politics of technology, such as the role of human expertise vis-{\`a}-vis artificial intelligence, the problems raised by techno-solutionism, and the question at what level of governance AI and climate change should be addressed.",

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