The social effects of artificial intelligence

Three institutions collaborated to analyse the challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) on behalf of the TA-Swiss Foundation. Focusing on the areas administration, consumption, education & research, media and work, the researchers investigated the consequences when decisions are increasingly made by algorithms.

The dynamics in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is great and there will probably be sensational successes and equally spectacular failures in the coming years. The study commissioned by the TA-Swiss Foundation evaluated the opportunities and risks of AI for exemplary areas of application. Researchers from the Digital Society Initiative of the University of Zurich, the Technology and Society Lab of the Empa and the Institute of Technology Assessment were working together on this project.

The focus was on AI applications in which human decisions will be largely taken over by algorithms in the near future. After conceptual and technological delimitation of the topic, possible developments and the associated opportunities and risks were dealt with in detail using transdisciplinary methods in the areas of administration, consumption, education & research, media and work. Ethical and legal issues were analysed in depth across all areas. By involving international experts and examining globally relevant political, economic and scientific influences, international developments were examined, analysed and, in particular, their impact on Switzerland is described.