May Thorseth's presentation on surveillance capitalism and artificial intelligence
On Tuesday, 27 May at 16:15 at the University of Tartu Delta Centre (Narva mnt 18–1025) and via Zoom, an English-language colloquium will take place, exploring how surveillance capitalism and AI algorithms restrict individual autonomy by turning human behaviour into data that is predicted, directed, and monetised.
The presentation „Why AI and Surveillance Capitalism Is a Threat to Democracy?“ will be given by May Thorseth, Professor of Philosophy at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Colloquium summary
„Surveillance capitalism is enabled by the power of Big Tech companies to create behavioural surplus. According to Shoshana Zuboff, this threatens autonomous choices, which are essential to democracy. Individual users of Big Tech’s services are no longer the customers, we are not even the product, but instead the object from which raw materials are extracted, based on information on preferences and prediction of future behaviour. This is a new species of economic power, as it implies instrumentation and instrumentalisation of behaviour for the purpose of modification, prediction, monetisation and control. Human experience is translated into behavioural data, trading in human futures by making predictions of what we will do, not only now, but later. This influence on individual choices curtails the autonomous choices of individuals.
In this talk, I will examine why surveillance capitalism, enabled by AI algorithms, deprives individuals of autonomous choices, which is basic to a well-functioning democracy. An important question is how AI technologies could contribute to better informed publics and democratic governance in the future?“
Open series of colloquia in spring 2025
Read more similar news
