Slaves to the algorithms? Algocracy and republican liberty

Robert Sparrow (Monash University)

Increasingly, governments are relying on artificial intelligence to make, or inform, important decisions—a phenomenon that John Danaher has styled, “algocracy”. Republicanism implies that there are at least four different reasons to be concerned about algocracy. First, decisions made using AI will often be impossible for citizens to contest because the reasons for the decisions will be inscrutable, which calls into question the legitimacy of these decisions. Second, the inability of citizens to contest the outcomes of government decisions made using AI and/or the justification for the use of AI will render these arbitrary and inimical to liberty on a republican account. Third, overreliance on AI is likely to undermine civic virtues that are necessary to the defence of liberty. Fourth, AI is such a powerful technology that it may free governments from any fear of revolution. If we wish to benefit from the use of AI in government without sacrificing liberty, we must: ensure that decisions made by AI can be publicly contested; investigate ways to mitigate the impact of algocracy on the political culture of democracies; and resist the temptation to develop AI for applications that would grant governments too much power over their citizens.

Robert Sparrow is Professor of Philosophy at the Monash Data Futures Institute. His work focuses on the ethical implications of adopting new technologies, ranging from artificial intelligence to genetic engineering, with an emphasis on formulating ethical arguments that contribute to public and political debate. He is also an Associate Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S) and is listed as a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science.