The artificial public servant

The researchers are examining the issue of accountability from a philosophical and legal perspective in relation to automated or AI-controlled decision making in public administration.

Even now many decision-making processes in public administration are based on simple algorithms. Tax bills, entitlement to social welfare payments and qualification for citizenship are already among the decisions taken by algorithms.

Strides in AI technology have led to the development of systems based on increasingly advanced algorithms. These systems have limited transparency, can process large quantities of data, are flexible, and can to some extent design themselves.

If automated or AI-controlled decision-making systems become more common, they might conceivably replace a large proportion of human decision making in public administration. This prospect raises fundamental philosophical issues about accountability: who or what should be held accountable for wrong decisions and why?

The researchers in this interdisciplinary project distinguish three scenarios:

1. Artificial systems based on simple algorithms. Although humans are generally held accountable in these situations, the legal position in Sweden remains unclear.
2. Artificial systems as self-learning and self-developing algorithms. In this case entirely novel legal and philosophical questions must be addressed. For instance, decisions made by AI systems at this level cannot necessarily be understood later on by humans. Yet someone or something must be accountable.
3. A hypothetical scenario in which AI systems exhibit behavior that cannot be distinguished from human behavior, or even possess something that cannot be equated with human consciousness. Would it be possible to hold a hypothetical entity of this kind accountable for its decisions from a legal and philosophical perspective?

The researchers aim to examine accountability from a philosophical and legal viewpoint in all three cases. They will ascertain whether there is a need to find new rules governing accountability for autonomous systems, or modify existing ones. To do so, they will analyze both how accountability works under Swedish laws, and how moral accountability and moral agency can be understood by means of philosophical reasoning. Their analysis will be based on accountability under Swedish law, and a philosophical analysis of moral responsibility and moral agency.

The results of the analysis will result in specific proposals for modified categories of accountability and new forms of accountability that can be applied both generally and more specifically in a Swedish context under the law. The philosophical and legal analysis is also expected to yield a deeper understanding of the ethical, legal and societal implications of introducing AI systems in public administration.

Nyheter

2022

• September, Yulia Razmetaeva och Natalia Satokhina publicerar "AI-Based Decisions and Disappearance of Law" i Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology.
• Oktober, debattartikel av Johan Eddebo och Claes Wrangel publicerad i Aftonbladet angående algoritmiska kontrollmekanismer i den digitala sfären.
  
• Oktober, Johan Eddebo holds a guest lecture at Uppsala University's Faculty of Law on digitalization's effects on the fundamental principles of the modern legal regime. Uppsala 24/10, 2022.
• November, Yulia Razmetaeva presented research at the conference on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights (Vilnius, Mykolas Romeris University Law School and Infolex, online). Her presentation was devoted to Invisible AI Interference and Human Rights, including she presented a scheme of how AI in public decisions affects fundamental rights. A recording of the conference is found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD2KRSSlcAM
  
• December, Johan Eddebo presenterar forskning på temat artificiell och naturlig agens vid konferensen "Military Imaginaries of AI and the Anthropocene", Uppsala universitet, 8-9:e december.
• December, Oliver Li participates in the i workshop "AI4 research" December 5, 2022, Uppsala Universitet, Humanistiska Teatern

2023

• April, Oliver Li publicerar sin monografi Gud i allt och allt i Gud: En religionsfilosofisk undersökning av panenteism på Makadam förlag
  
• Oktober, Johan Eddebo och Dennis Riches publicerar artikeln "Belle Époque" i Propaganda in Focus om historiska jämförelser mellan förkrigstidens och våra dagars respektive världsbilder i förhållande till masskommunikationsteknologin.

2024

• Februari, Johan Eddebo håller en gästföreläsning vid Seijouniversitetets Faculty of Social Innovation i Tokyo på temat "The role and relevance of humanities research on AI and late-stage digitalization".
• Mars, Sandra Friberg och Yulia Razmetaeva publicerar tillsammans med Lind, A.-S., "Better Safe Than Sorry: Reflections on the Artificial Intelligence Act". WASP-HS Blog. https://wasp-hs.org/better-safe-than-sorry-reflections-on-the-artificial-intelligence-act/
• Maj, Johan Eddebo, Mika Hietanen och Mathias Johansson publicerar "Automatic Identification of Hate Speech: A Case-Study of alt-Right YouTube Videos. F1000 Research.
• Juni, Johan Eddebos artikel "The Bouba/Kiki Effect as Support for Realism and Non-Reductionist Relational Subjectivity through Non-Western and Classical Metaphysics" publiceras i Global Conversations.
• Juni, Johan Eddebos bokkapitel "Cyberpunk and Industrial Music: Dethroning the Megatechnics" publiceras i antologin Diy or die! av Donaghey, J., Boisseau, W,. & Kaltefleiter, C.
• Juni, Johan Eddebo publicerar en CRS-krönika som bygger på en intervju ang. AI-utvecklingen och den asiatiska kontexten med två professorer i juridik vid Seijouniversitetet
• June 2024, Yulia Razmetaeva presents on “Artificial intelligence, decision-making and justice” at the Information Society Law Center Annual Conference, June 10-13, 2024, University of Milan
• September, Johan Eddebo deltar i podcasten "Neutrality Studies" med Pascal Lottaz som värd.
  
• Oktober, Johan Eddebo deltar i konferensen "Mobility, materiality and multiplicity" Vid Hong Kong Metropolitan University med ett föredrag ang. AI och framväxande perspektiv på agentskap, medvetande och mänsklighet.
• November, Johan Eddebo och Dennis Riches publicerar artikeln "The End of Pluralism and the Decline of Soft Power" i Propaganda in Focus ang. digitaliseringens och informationsteknologins roll i den liberala demokratins samtida utmaningar.
• November, Johan Eddebo föreläser vid Lakeland University i Sumida med fokus på etik inom vetenskaplig forskning och vid tillämpningen av AI-verktyg.
  
• December, Sandra Friberg och Johan Eddebo deltar i samverkansworkshop med Uppsala Universitet och Försäkringskassan på temat "On the impact of the AIA on Swedish public bodies".
• December 2024, Yulia Razmetaeva presents on “Artificial Intelligence, Justice, and Trust in Public Decision-Making” at the Digitalization of the Administration and the question of Trust, December 5-6, 2024 Södertörn University
• Yulia Razmetaeva publicerar "Private Algorithms, Public Consequences" I: Public and Private in Contemporary Societies. A cura di Claudia Morgana Cascione, Giorgio Giannone Codiglione, Paolo Pardolesi. Università degli Studi Roma Tre. Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza. Collana “Studies in Law and Social Sciences” 11. Roma Tre Press: Roma, 2024. Pp. 161-173.

2025

• Februari, Johan Eddebo arrangerar en konferens vid Seijouniversitetet på temat "Neutrality, Soft Power and Independence Struggles in the Age of Global Realignment, AI and New Media". Eddebos föredrag har titeln "Theology, technology and soft power".
• February 2025, Yulia Razmetaeva was in charge of the seminar “Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism, and Gods of Data”. seminar is arranged by researchers in the WASP-HS projects “The Artificial Public Servant”, “Artificial Intelligence, Democracy and Human Dignity”, Mikael Stenmark, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Department of Theology, Uppsala University, and Carl Öhman, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, Uppsala University.
• Februari, Johan Eddebos artikel "On the importance of interdisciplinary humanities research on artificial intelligence and the digital transformation" publiceras i Journal of Glocal Studies.