In times of increasing digitalisation and artificial intelligence, the relationship between humans, technology and society is changing fundamentally. Social machines such as robots or voice assistants simulate human interactions and pose ethical and political challenges for democratic societies. The increasing autonomy of these systems raises questions about their control, the impact on work, defence and surveillance as well as on political decisions. It remains to be seen whether current approaches such as ‘responsible AI’ are sufficient to understand these developments in democratic contexts.
As part of the Summer School, PhD, MA and MSc students from various disciplines investigated how people's self-image is changing under current technological conditions. In particular, they focussed on the relationship between states and private actors as well as concrete scenarios of human-technology interaction in areas such as medicine, music, art and politics. The focus was not only on the diverse risks and challenges for regulation, but also on the opportunities for a better future and the strengthening of the resilience and vitality of democracies, which have been little researched to date.
