Abstract
This article argues that AI presents a two-pronged power challenge, introducing a different type of power relationship while simultaneously eroding the efficacy of existing procedures and institutions for resisting power disparities. The first prong of the challenge is analysed as consisting of three levels of power (roughly mapping onto the radical view of power proposed by Steven Lukes), namely: (i) power exercised over the individual or groups in mundane spheres of activity where certain kinds of everyday decision-making may be displaced; (ii) power impacting upon the trajectories of societal development and hence impinging upon human rights, values, and aspirations, and their trackdependencies; and (iii) power involving existential threats to humanity. The second prong of the challenge is addressed with reference to the tendency of AI both to provoke a sense of human inferiority and to erode our means of checking power. This illustrates some of the shortcomings of our existing systems which have not been revealed because they have not been tested in such a manner. Concluding, it is suggested that the focus upon responding to and regulating AI might be either overly specific or missing an important point. Rather, if the core challenges posed by AI are viewed as problems of power, this will not only unify hitherto divergent responses but also shield us from the technological dazzle that prevents us from seeing these problems clearly.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Law, Innovation and Technology |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 197-229 |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| ISSN | 1757-9961 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |