AI that Glitters is not Gold

Abstract

Under which conditions can you say that a system is actually and meaningfully under your control? Accidents happen with machines and often that is not the fault of the user. So what does control entail? To gain some modicum of understanding, we need to learn how technology and control relate to one another. Of course, the concept of control also relates to the consequences of control, namely the responsibility you have for that which you can control.
On average,we are used to thinking about technology as a kind of hammer, something on hand that we can make use of. Yet, such a hammer also invites us to hammer things. This invitation is a kind of mediation through which we are encouraged to act in one way and not another. In short, technology can also influence us.
If technology can exert a kind of influence on you, then we need to ask what that means for control. What kind of issues do we run into because of that influence? In this dissertation I investigate a few key issues: self reinforcement and relevancy. Technology tends to entrench itself in society once it is widely implemented. This process of entrenchment is often through self-reinforcement (chapter 2). Like a snowball rolling down a hill that picks up more snow as it goes, so too can technology gain a kind of traction that becomes harder and harder to ignore and disband or even change. Consider, for example, how much has to change if we want to live without cars. The moment technology gets picked up at large, we also institute policies and create institutions around which such technology can be legitimized. The point is that the technology can create a new standard to which everyone grows accustomed...