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

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  • Coeckelbergh, Mark
  • Sætra, Henrik Skaug

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Coeckelbergh, Mark & Sætra, Henrik Skaug, 2023. "Climate change and the political pathways of AI: The technocracy-democracy dilemma in light of artificial intelligence and human agency," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:75:y:2023:i:c:s0160791x23002117
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2023.102406
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    References listed on IDEAS

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      • Raphael Koster & Jan Balaguer & Andrea Tacchetti & Ari Weinstein & Tina Zhu & Oliver Hauser & Duncan Williams & Lucy Campbell-Gillingham & Phoebe Thacker & Matthew Botvinick & Christopher Summerfield, 2022. "Human-centered mechanism design with Democratic AI," Papers 2201.11441, arXiv.org.
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