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

IF 10.1 1区社会学 Q1 SOCIAL ISSUES

Technology in Society Pub Date : 2023-11-01 DOI:10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102406

Mark Coeckelbergh , Henrik Skaug Sætra

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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-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.

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气候变化和人工智能的政治路径:基于人工智能和人类能动性的技术官僚-民主困境

人们普遍认为，人工智能(AI)对政治和民主产生了重大影响。与此同时，这项技术也经常被誉为解决关键社会和环境挑战的解决方案。它提出了一些问题，例如，我们如何以及应该如何应对气候变化。本文通过将这些问题置于技术官僚-民主困境的背景下并使用关键节点的概念，将这些问题联系起来并进行讨论。然后，它确定了人工智能的两种政治途径，并批判性地讨论了它们的基本假设。这为进一步讨论人工智能、气候变化和民主之间的关系提供了一个有用的框架，并使我们能够研究技术政治的重要问题，例如人类专业知识对-à-vis人工智能的作用、技术解决方案主义提出的问题，以及应该在什么水平上解决人工智能和气候变化的治理问题。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Technology in Society Multiple-

CiteScore

17.90

自引率

14.10%

发文量

316

审稿时长

60 days

期刊介绍： Technology in Society is a global journal dedicated to fostering discourse at the crossroads of technological change and the social, economic, business, and philosophical transformation of our world. The journal aims to provide scholarly contributions that empower decision-makers to thoughtfully and intentionally navigate the decisions shaping this dynamic landscape. A common thread across these fields is the role of technology in society, influencing economic, political, and cultural dynamics. Scholarly work in Technology in Society delves into the social forces shaping technological decisions and the societal choices regarding technology use. This encompasses scholarly and theoretical approaches (history and philosophy of science and technology, technology forecasting, economic growth, and policy, ethics), applied approaches (business innovation, technology management, legal and engineering), and developmental perspectives (technology transfer, technology assessment, and economic development). Detailed information about the journal's aims and scope on specific topics can be found in Technology in Society Briefings, accessible via our Special Issues and Article Collections.