Research

Surveillance is an inherent feature of the nation-state, (post)modern governmentality and capitalism. In the last two decades, (AI powered) digital surveillance by state and corporate actors has proliferated. We believe that AI surveillance has to be examined in terms of its integration with existing cultural, economic and political systems and as a total process that is local, regional and global in scope.

The emergence and proliferation of AI technologies are inextricably connected with state politics. The state drives AI innovations and in turn employs and disseminates the output. In this sense, what interests us is how and to what extend state interests shape and direct AI technologies. We are particularly interested in how economic and nationalist narratives and interests, as mediated by the state, become enmeshed in the unfolding of AI technologies.

Borders are a “hot spot” for (AI powered) surveillance experiments. New AI technologies are on a daily basis being deployed to monitor, control and even shape borders. These processes, which are legitimized in the name of “national security” materialize through a highly impersonal state bureaucracy, impacting the movement and well-being of migrants, often in violation of international human rights law. We situate these developments within broader de-democratization trends that are gaining political momentum across the globe.

AI technologies are revamping the landscape of “traditional” mass, as well as social, media. The broad dissemination of disinformation, the proliferation of “deep fakes,” as well as the algorithmic coordination of the digital sphere are altering the coordinates of politics, culture and identity. These developments need to be assessed not only in terms of their social effects, but also as novel hegemonic constellations underpinned by particularistic interests.

It is important to document and foreshadow the catastrophic capacities inherent in the employment of AI technologies in warfare and to investigate the associated shifts in the global balance of power. AI in warfare will inevitably alter the character and efficacy of international diplomacy and the configuration of global hegemonic constellations, likely undermining possibilities for peace and international cooperation.

AI innovators are foreshadowing radical economic shifts and shifts in the labour process itself. From “no work” promises to warnings of widespread unemployment, the future of work in the “age of AI” is now at the forefront of public debates. A political economy of AI should reveal how the state-economy nexus facilitates the implementation of technologies of economic control vis-a-vis automation. These modalities of control spiral down to micro structures, e.g. the architecture of work itself, and spiral out to macro structures, e.g. capital accumulation cycles, the digitization of the economy, macro-economic planning, processes of financization, etc.

The unprecedented operational capacities of AI powered digital technologies invites a plethora of substantive ethical questions that demand immediate answers, e.g. concerning democracy, social and institutional trust, the distribution of power, etc. We intend on situating our findings within the scope of current and anticipated ethical questions pertaining to AI technologies.

AI powered technologies overcome spatial, temporal and empirical limitations, thus enabling unprecedented operational capacities, which may potentially unleash catastrophic effects that are global in scope. Our efforts are geared towards decryptifying AI’s catastrophic potentials, while anticipating future developments, in efforts of prefiguring solutions.