Matthias Binswanger: How AI Influences Society and the Economy, and Contributes to Growing Bureaucracy

The increasing use of AI is leading, mostly without us noticing, to the dynamics of capitalist economies becoming independent. The trend is toward AI-controlled algorithms making economically relevant decisions instead of humans. This is because algorithms are superior to humans in many ways. They can recognize highly complex temporal and spatial patterns in gigantic amounts of data, which allows them to draw conclusions about the future behavior of people, companies, and entire systems. This pattern recognition makes it possible to react quickly to changes and make optimal decisions in a short time. 
An economy controlled by self-learning algorithms can implement the principle of profit maximization much more consistently than humans ever could. But self-learning algorithms are not simply benevolent digital slaves. They were developed not only to increase the well-being of humanity but also, and primarily, to generate profits. For this reason, it is not wise to become dependent on artificial intelligence.

Mathias Binswanger is a professor of economics at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland in Olten and a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen.

In cooperation with the Stuttgart City Library and IZKT at the University of Stuttgart.

Program Flyer (German only)

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