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Jörg Dräger, Ralph Müller-Eiselt
We Humans and the Intelligent Machines
How algorithms shape our lives and how we can make good use of them
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Contributors:
Carla Hustedt
Sarah Fischer
Emilie Reichmann
Anita Klingel
Editor: André Zimmermann
Copyright English edition © 2020 Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh
Copyright German edition © 2019 Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, a subsidiary of Random House GmbH
Cover design: total italic, Thierry Wijnberg, Amsterdam/Berlin
Cover illustration: Shutterstock/Helga_Kor
Authors’ photo: Jan Voth
Translation: DeepL
Copy editing: Tim Schroder
Typesetting: Büro für Grafische Gestaltung – Kerstin Schröder, Bielefeld
Printing: Hans Gieselmann Druck und Medienhaus GmbH & Co. KG, Bielefeld
Printed in Germany
ISBN 978-3-86793-884-6 (print)
ISBN 978-3-86793-885-3 (e-book PDF)
ISBN 978-3-86793-886-0 (e-book EPUB)
www.bertelsmann-stiftung.org/publications
Contents
The algorithmic society – a preface
5Personalization: Suitable for everyone
6Access: Open doors, blocked paths
7Empowerment: The optimized self
8Leeway: More time for the essential
9Control: The regulated society
10Distribution: Sufficiently scarce
11Prevention: A certain future
12Justice: Fair is not necessarily fair
13Connection: Automated interaction
14Algorithms concern all of us: How we conduct a societal debate
15Well meant is not well done: How we control algorithms
16Fighting the monopolies: How we ensure algorithmic diversity
17Knowledge works wonders: How we build algorithmic competency
Machines serving people – anoutlook
The algorithmic society – a preface
Intelligent machines are part of our lives. They help doctors diagnose cancer and dispatch policemen to find criminals. They preselect suitable candidates for HR departments and suggest the sentences judges should impose. It is not science fiction, it is reality. Algorithms and artificial intelligence increasingly determine our everyday lives.
Only a fine line separates fascination from horror. Many things sound promising: defeating cancer before it develops, stopping crime before it happens, getting the dream job without the right connections, serving justice freed from subconscious prejudices. All of that sounds auspicious, yet the negative narrative is just as impressive: healthcare systems which are no longer based on social solidarity, minority groups which suddenly find themselves disadvantaged, individuals who are completely excluded from the job market. In this scenario, people become playthings, the victims of digitally determined probabilities.
Whether promise or peril – the changes will be radical. We must therefore re-evaluate and readjust the relationship between humans and machines. How does artificial intelligence (AI) affect us, our lives and our society? Where can algorithms enrich us, where must we put an end to their threatening omnipotence? Who wins and who loses through digital disruption? These questions are reminiscent of earlier upheavals of similarly broad scope. The Industrial Revolution also changed economic and social conditions, engendering hope for the future, along with considerable fear and social tensions. In retrospect, technological progress has made most people’s lives better and has increased