Digitalization of Society,
Society and AI
Digital technologies are a central element of transformations in contemporary societies. Are these recent processes different from how information and communication technology has induced social change in the past decades? Current discourses about a “digital revolution” that encompasses every sphere of social life (“digitalization of work”, “digitalization of business”, “digitalization of education”, “digitalization of healthcare”, etc.) suggest that such a digital transformation of society is underway. Empirical observations from quite different social fields support the conclusion that the transformative power of digitalization is still growing. Mobile devices, connectivity, social media platforms, big data, machine learning and related developments, as well as the new practices and social innovations associated with them, are about to induce substantial changes in many spheres of society.
For some years now, one can observe how social media changes political communication. In the economic sphere new platform-based business models and production processes managed and controlled by cyber-physical systems involve substantial changes of work, work organization and labor relations. In the scientific domain, digital technologies may change the way in which knowledge is produced, justified, assessed, distributed and implemented in practical contexts.
Currently artificial intelligence and machine learning tools are introduced in areas reserved previously for human decision-making. Machine learning algorithms are used to support recruiting processes, to classify job seekers, to recognize faces, or to make medical diagnoses and suggest therapies, raising questions of possible biases of such algorithms and the problem of the transparency and traceability of such algorithmic decision-making.
The COVID pandemic showed the potential of digital technology to change society with unexpected speed and impact. Working online from the home office changed schools, universities, and working relations, and some of these changes will last.
It is important to understand how these socio-technical innovations interact with societal forces in bringing about this transformation and to explore the challenges and opportunities associated with them. In doing so, session proposals should focus on a particular social field, a particular phenomennon of digitization, or a particular opportunity or challenge associated with the digitalization of society.