Posthuman Ethics for AI

Abstract

The impact of AI on liberal democratic social and political systems has emerged as the crucial issue of our times. So is the need to regulate general AI systems. The alliance of newly elected president Trump with the owners and CEOs of the technological sector of the U.S. economy—Elon Musk first and foremost—adds extra urgency to the issue. Digital or platform capitalism has engendered what is known as “surveillance” societies. The centralized and unchecked business model it relies on poses serious existential threats to our collective futures. There is widespread consensus today, not only in academia but also in progressive social circles, that we need both traditional and algorithmic sources of resistance to monopolies and the centralization of technological powers. We also need more experimentation with alternative ways of developing and governing the AI dimension of our lives.