Warum Ethikstandards nicht alles sind. Zu den herrschaftskonservierenden Effekten aktueller Digitalisierungskritik

Abstract

This article deals with AI ethic guidelines and standards as the currently dominant form in which society articulates critique of digital data technologies and searches for solutions for the respective upheavals. Based on a discourse-analytical reflection, it is argued that the premises underpinning the societal critique of digitalization have several conceptual limitations – especially when it comes to understanding and questioning social relations of power and the role that digital data technologies play in their reproduction. Against this backdrop, the currently dominant form of societal critique of digitalization is described as essentially preserving power relations. Therefore, it is pleaded for strengthening rationality- and power-critical perspectives in the debates on digitalization and its challenges.