Environmental degradation, poverty, exhausted employees. These are problems that could be solved by the market. Provided that there is economic democracy. In Sweden we take political democracy for gran

After years of falling fertility, most countries of the EU have reached stabilization; however, at very different levels across Europe. Examining this difference may help in understanding the underlyi

Daniel Wikler, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and Professor of Ethics and Population Health at the Harvard School of Public Health ABSTRACTTwo letters on electronic cigarettes (“E-c

Research seminar with Jens Finnäs (J++), Måns Magnusson (Assistant Professor in statistics at Uppsala University), and Jonas Wallin (Associate Professor at Lund University).   Register In the Swedish elect

Ethics and E-cigs. Daniel Wikler on smoking and health

Two letters on electronic cigarettes (“E-cigs”) reached Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization in mid-2014, each signed by dozens of tobacco control specialists. One comm

PLoS ONE 9(6): e97856. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097856 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0097856 A short summary: Over the past decades many countries have experienced r

In Hanemaayer, A. (editor) Artificial Intelligence and Its Discontents. Palgrave. Abstract AI has often reached individuals covertly, rather than by their own choosing. Standard automatic version update

Research seminar with Sanna Wolk, professor of law, president of the union SULF, and Leif Dahlberg, professor of media technology at Royal School of Technology (KTH).  Register here AbstractThe goal is tJoin the seminar online or at the Institute for Futures Studies. If you plan to join on site, please check the box in the registration form. 

in: Technology in Society. 63, 101396 Abstract:Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of Deep Learning (DL) technology has diffused in the consumer domain in a unique way as compared to previous gene, i.e., by being added to preexisting technologies that are already in use. We find that DL-algorithms for recommendations or ranking have been infused into all the 15 most popular mobile applications (apps) in the U.S. (as of May 2019). DL-infusion enables fast and vast diffusion. For example, when a DL-system was infused into YouTube, it almost immediately reached a third of the world's population. We argue that existing theories of innovation diffusion and adoption have limited relevance for DL-infusion, because it is a process that is driven by enterprises rather than individuals. We also discuss its social and ethical implications. First, consumers have a limited ability to detect and evaluate an infused technology. DL-infusion may thus help to explain why AI's presence in society has not been challenged by many. Second, the DL-providers are likely to face conflicts of interest, since consumer and supplier goals are not always aligned. Third, infusion is likely to be a particularly important diffusion process for DL-technologies as compared to other innovations, because they need large data sets to function well, which can be drawn from preexisting users. Related, it seems that larger technology companies comparatively benefit more from DL-infusion, because they already have many users. This suggests that the value drawn from DL is likely to follow a Matthew Effect of accumulated advantage online: many preexisting users provide a lot of behavioral data, which bring about better DL-driven features, which attract even more users, etc. Such a self-reinforcing process could limit the possibilities for new companies to compete. This way, the notion of DL-infusion may put light on the power shift that comes with the presence of AI in society.

The conversational context and conceptual engineering

Conceptual engineering concerns what it is for a concept to be defective and therefor ameliorated or abolished. The goal of this project, however, is to shift the focus to the role of the context, which might help us understand conflicts about the meaning of our words.