Artificial Intelligence, Democracy and Human Dignity

As artificial intelligence is growing in scope and strength, it raises the issue of whether it could develop independence. A research project at Uppsala University led by Anna-Sara Lind will monitor this development and how it impacts on society. 

One of the fundamental issues for the researchers to investigate is whether strong AI is even possible and, if so, how it would affect democracy, human dignity, human rights and other ethical questions.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

One of the fundamental issues for the researchers to investigate is whether strong AI is even possible and, if so, how it would affect democracy, human dignity, human rights and other ethical questions.

In the historical paradigm shift entailed by today’s technological development, there is a risk of humans having less influence in the world, instead of more. This gives rise to a need for a deeper understanding of the values created and transferred as technology based on artificial intelligence becomes increasingly common. The research project is intended to create a clearer idea of which effects artificial intelligence may have in terms of rights, ethics, world views and social institutions at a global level.

Anna-Sara Lind

Researcher at Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society (CRS)

Researcher at Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies on Racism

Professor at Department of Law, Professors, Instructors, Researchers

NEWS

2019

  • Presentation of preliminary results and the project's foundations under the title "Strong AI and human dignity" at The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy, Tokyo 23/3 2019
     
  • Anna-Sara Lind moderates the symposium "Demokratins hälsa idag och i morgon", Uppsala universitet. The First deputy speaker of the parliament was also present. Uppsala 8/11 2019
     
  • Presentation at Nordiska administrativa förbundet with the title "AI, demokratin och rättsstaten – presentation av ett forskningsprojekt", Stockholm 29/11 2019.
     
  • Presentation of the project at the constitutional law unit at the Swedish Ministry of Justice under the title "AI och grundlagen", Stockholm 28/3 2019
     
  • Seminar held at the post-graduate level at the law programme at Uppsala University, under the title "Artificiell intelligens", Uppsala 9/9 2019
     
  • Participation at the conference "Cogito Ergo Sum? AI in Japan and Sweden", Linköping Universitet, 24/9 2019
     
  • Participation at the conference "Konferensen Guds rike" under the title "AI och människovärdet - utmaningar och möjligheter", Stockholm 24/11 2019
     
  • Anna-Sara Lind, Jonas Hultin Rosenberg and Johan Wejryd holds a presentation under the title ”AI, demokrati och mänsklig värdighet” at a seminar with Nordiskt administrativt förbund [Nordic Association for Administration], Supreme Administrative Court, Stockholm. November 29.

2020

  • Anna-Sara Lind publishes a WASP-AS blog post, "Bortom dagens AI-hype", January 14.
     
  • Presentation at the CRS collaboration day, Uppsala University, regarding the importance of humanities research and perpectives from religious studies in relation to the AI area, Uppsala 4/2 2020
     
  • Participation in panel debate at Katedralcaféet with Antje Jackelén and Paul Hemerén under the title "Äkta människor, äkta AI: om etiken i förhållandet mellan artificiell intelligens och människan", Uppsala 24/2 2020
     
  • Participation in the theme event "AI och mänsklig beröring" at Katedralakademien, Stockholm 3/5 2020
     
  • Arranged workshop/seminar series with prof. Åsa Cajander and the Human Technology research group, May-June 2020
     
  • Johan Wejryd and A. Åkerlind holds a Digital ”Guided introduction” of Lars Arrhenius’ work at the Uppsala Museum of Art. June 10 2020.
     
  • Anna-Sara Lind is a panel speaker at "AI and law", Gothenburg. June 17.
     
  • Presentation on digital technology in the workplace at UppTalk Weekly, fall 2020. Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttgeSfrdL_c
     
  • Book chapter "Förvaltning och EU:s dataskydd" by J. Reichel & Anna-Sara Lind, in: Sandström, L, & Peterson, C, (Eds.), Den svenska förvaltningsmodellen is published by Jure förlag.
     
  • Speaker Seminar "Digital Humanities", Uppsala University. "AI and the (limits of) law". September 9.

  • Participation at the conference "Salamis and Democracy, 2500 years after", on the topic of AI and democracy. October.
     
  • The article "Allmän rösträtt 30 år? En tvärvetenskaplig blick på rätten till politiskt inflytande för barn, funktionshindrade och mottagare av försörjningsstöd" by Jonas Hultin Rosenberg, Anna-Sara Lind and Johan Wejryd is published in Nordisk Socialrättslig tidskrift.
     
  • The article "The all-affected principle reconsidered" by Jonas Hultin Rosenberg is published in Social Theory and Practice.
     
  • Participation in the seminar "Hjärnan och evigheten" at Katedralakademin, Stockholm 14/11 2020
     
  • Participation in podcast on hauntology and retro-futurism with Zak McGaha and Ken Ammi. 2020.
     
  • Lecture at Härnäsands pensionärsuniversitet regarding our research project, Härnösand 7/12 2020
     
  • Anna-Sara Lind publishes a legal opinion on SOU 2020:45, Ett ändamålsenligt skydd för tryck- och yttrandefriheten, December 2020

2021

  • Article "Inget riktigt liv i det falska" by Johan Eddebo published in Signum. The topic is the human condition in relation to digitized isolation. January 2021.
     
  • Presentation on the WASP-HS winter conference of the project's status with special regard to the details of our interdisciplinary research work. 2021.
     
  • Book Mänskliga rättigheter i det lokala Sverige, edited by O. Lundin & Anna-Sara Lind is published by Studentlitteratur.
     
  • Book chapter "Mänskliga rättigheter - ett ansvar för det lokala" by O. Lundin & Anna-Sara Lind, in Lundin, O. & Lind, A-S. (eds.), Mänskliga rättigheter i det lokala Sverige, is published by Studentlitteratur.
     
  • Book chapter "Artificiella beslutsfattare i den kommunala förvaltningen" by Lars Karlander, in Lundin, O. & Lind, A-S. (eds.), Mänskliga rättigheter i det lokala Sverige, is published by Studentlitteratur.
     
  • Op-ed "Sluta förfasa er över gangsterrapen" by Johan Eddebo & Emil Lundin is published in Göteborgs-Posten. On the effects upon culture by algorithmic governance of social media. January 2021.
     
  • Johan Eddebo's book chapter ”Thanatos och längtan bortom livet”, in Reinhold, Emilie, Wandery, Oscar, På tal om döden: Essäer, is published by Makadam förlag. Spring 2021

  • Johan Wejryd holds a presentation under the title ”Exil för alla”  on church related, liberal perspectives on integration at the Church of Sweden’s Institute for Education (education of ministers, deacons and parish educators). April 21.

  • Anna-Sara Lind & Sandra Friberg publishes a legal opinion on the European Commissions AI Act proposal, Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence and amending certain union legislative acts (COM(2021) 206, June 2021.

  • "The Artificial Paradise", research article by Johan Eddebo is published in Svensk teologisk kvartalsskrift in July 2021. https://doi.org/10.51619/stk.v97i2.23194.

    The redemptive function of science is a central facet of contemporary late-modern mythology, which due to the preeminent discursive hegemony of scientism generally goes more or less unexamined. A kind of redemptive scientism has popularly been acknowledged as simply real and unquestionably true, whereas neither the rationale nor the character of these narratives are sufficiently critically examined. 

  • Oliver Li's article "Problems with 'Friendly-AI'" is published in Ethics and Information Technology. doi: 10.1007/s10676-021-09595-x

  • Lecture by Anna-Sara Lind at Åbo Academy, Finland, on the topic "Legislating AI – a matter of high-risk administration?".

  • Presentation at the WASP-HS researcher seminar by Anna-Sara Lind & Sandra Friberg on the theme of "Regulating AI – legal perspectvies on the recent Proposal from the European Commission". June 3.

  • Popular science/fiction piece, "A Study in Chrome" by Oliver Li and Johan Eddebo published in ShabdAaweg Review of New Delhi. Fall 2021.
     
  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg presents the paper “Machine Learning and Democratic Legitimacy” (together with Ludvig Beckman and Karim Jebari) at the conference Governing AI, MANCEPT workshops, 9-10 September.
     
  • Popular science/cultural analysis piece, "Faith, Biopower and Utopia", by Johan Eddebo published in Catholic World Report. Late September 2021.
     
  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg arranges a seminar with Maria Nordström (KTH) on” Legitimacy of AI for public use: in virtue of what?”, October 11.

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg presents the paper “The democratic inclusion of artificial intelligence? Exploring the patiency, agency and relational conditions for demos membership” (together with Ludvig Beckman at the PPE seminar at the Institute for future studies, Stockholm, November 11.

  • Johan Eddebo's article ”The Faustian Machine and the Chrome Lotus: On the diversity of perspectives on the metaphysics of artificial intelligence with a particular focus on the contributions of traditional non-Western thought” is published in New Techno Humanities, December 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techum.2021.100001

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg publishes a pre-print version of “The democratic inclusion of artificial intelligence? Exploring the patiency, agency and relational conditions for demos membership” in Studies in the Democratic Boundary Problem, Institute for Futures Studies Working paper series. Co-authored with Ludvig Beckman.

  • Book chapter "Rätten till deltagande och den territoriella rösträtten i den lokala svenska demokratin" by Jonas Hultin Rosenberg, in Lundin, O. & Lind, A-S. (eds.), Mänskliga rättigheter i det lokala Sverige, is published by Studentlitteratur.

2022

  • Anna-Sara Lind arranges a national summit on the theme of Artificial intelligence and jurisprudence - ongoing and upcoming research, attended by some 40 legal scholars from Sweden. January 24, 2022.

  • Anna-Sara Lind arranges a book release and seminar on pedagogy on the theme of AI, digitalization and law with Gregor Noll. January 25.

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg presents the project at CRS Collaboration day, February 1.

  • Anna-Sara Lind holds a presentation at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs with the title "Public information - taking Human Rights seriously" for the international corp of diplomats. March 24, 2022.

  • Johan Eddebo, lecture on the risks of digitalization in terms of children's and adolescents' cognitive development. PRO, Luleå. March 26, 2022.

  • Anna-Sara Lind moderates at the De Lege Book Launch for the panel "New legislation for AI. Currently a lot of legislation is proposed at EU level that regulates AI." April 25, 2022.

  • Johan Eddebo, participation in panel debate at the De Lege Book Launch, Faculty of Law, on the topic "AI-Leviathan: AI in the public sector and the public sphere", Uppsala, April 25, 2022.

  • Eddebo, Johan & Lind, Anna-Sara, publishes book chapter "Artificial Intelligence and Imperceptible Governance – Reflections from a cross-disciplinary encounter" in AI, Law and Digitalization, De Lege 2021, Iustus förlag 2022, pp. 497-516 (20 p)

  • Anna-Sara Lind holds a guest lecture in Tallinn with the title "Legislating AI - new forms of realizing the rule of law?". May 5, 2022.

  • Johan Eddebo - presentation on research connected to problems of definition in regard to "hate speech"-moderation in digital contexts at the higher seminar of Political Science. May 5, 2022.

  • Oliver Li - participation in the panel debate "Hjärnan och evigheten" May 7, 2022, at 'Katedralakademin' in Katarinaförsamling/Stockholm

  • Johan Wejryd presents “Perceptions of personhood – a political sociological inquiry into the metaphors of AI:s and humans” at the symposium “Artificial Personhood in the 21 Century – Philosophical, Legal, and Political Perspectives” on June 22.

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg publishes the article "Artificial intelligence and democratic legitimacy. The problem of publicity in public authority" in AI & Society (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01493-0). Co-authored with Ludvig Beckman and Karim Jebari.

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg publishes the article “The democratic inclusion of artificial intelligence? Exploring the patiency, agency and relational conditions for demos membership” in Philosophy & Technology. Co-authored with Ludvig Beckman.

  • Jonas Hultin Rosenberg gives a presentation on “Independence, Consciousness, and the Political Standing of AI” at the conference Artificial Personhood in the 21 Century: Philosophical, Legal, and Political Perspectives, Uppsala June 21-22.

  • Lars Karlander presented a draft paper entitled "Two Routes to Legal Personhood" at the symposium “Artificial Personhood in the 21 Century – Philosophical, Legal, and Political Perspectives” on June 22.

  • Anna-Sara Lind, presentation in Almedalen on interdisciplinary research and its funding, arranged by CIRCUS and attended by funding institutions. July 4, 2022.

  • Anna-Sara Lind, UR-episode for youth on the Swedish constitution: https://urplay.se/program/226549-samhallskunskap-forklarad-sveriges-grundlagar. July 25, 2022.

  • Johan Eddebo participates in the podcast Thinking Thomas on the topic of transhumanism and its ideological and philosophical roots. November 2, 2022. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MXY6SR-MTM)

  • Yulia Razmetaeva presents “AI in the courts: what is wrong with the rule of law?” at the CRoLEV Net Launch, The Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on the Rule of Law and European Values (CRoLEV) at the School of Law of the University of Central Lancashire in Cyprus, on November 2, 2022. Video recording of the event: https://crolev.eu/media/

  • Anna-Sara Lind, presentation at the Foundation for Jurisprudential Research on the topic of Artificial intelligence, democracy and human dignity. November 11, 2022.

  • Oliver Li - participation in the seminar "Offentlig upphandling av digitala system (Public procurement of digital systems) " SNS - Stockholm, 15th of Nov. 2022 

  • Johan Wejryd gives a speech ”Strengthening of the ‘system world’ at the expense of the ‘life world’: A Canopy for Research on AI” at the WASP-HS conference AI for Humanity and Society 2022, on November 17.

  • Anna-Sara Lind, arranging AI4HS Dreams, Realities, and Futures: Risks and Consequences of AI in Formative Times. November 17, 2022.

  • Yulia Razmetaeva presents “Digital platforms’ normative role in today’s world” at The Ethics of Business, Trade, & Global Governance: An Interdisciplinary Conference (Wentworth-by-the-Sea, New Castle, NH, US) on December 3, 2022.
  • Presentation at The Ethics of Business, Trade, & Global Governance: An Interdisciplinary Conference (Wentworth-by-the-Sea, New Castle, NH, US) by Yulia Razmetaeva on the theme of “Digital platforms’ normative role in today’s world”. December 3, 2022.

  • Oliver Li - participation in the i workshop "AI4 research" 5th Dec. 2022, Uppsala Universitet, Humanistiska Teatern

  • Edquist, S, Huvila, I, Lind, A-S (eds.), Makten över information – en brevbok, CRS rapporter nr 2, 2022 (74 s). Also includes Oliver Li and Lars Karlander.

  • Oliver Li - article published: Vänlig AI – eller vänliga människor? (Friendly AI - or friendly humans?) 2022 in SANS, ISSN 1401-8691, Vol. 4

  • Oliver Li - article response published: Kommentar: Vänlig AI och mänsklig moralutveckling (Comment: Friendly AI and human moral development) 2023 in SANS, ISSN 2000-9690, Vol. 1. Published in December 2022, dated 2023.

  • In February 2022, Silvia Carretta presents her work at the WASP-HS Winter conference (in Balkenius, C. & Sjöstrand, E. (Eds), Proceedings of the Second WASP-HS Winter Conference, WASP-HS, 2022) and participates in the panel discussion “Ethics of AI, robots and autonomous systems”
     
  • Silvia is invited to present at the conference organized in April by the Doctoral School in Legal Science of the University of Florence (Italy) for the EU Project "Department of Excellence" 2018-2022. The conference discusses the topic of “Artificial Intelligence and Smart Cities. Challenges and opportunities”. For that occasion, she writes a conference paper on “Creating a new model of Smart City: the Swedish example” (forthcoming in 2024).
     
  • Silvia publishes a chapter in the new edition of “De Lege 2021: Law, AI and Digitalisation”. The chapter is titled “Liability for Copyright Infringement and Algorithmic Content Moderation: A Matter of Proportion”. In April, she also participates at the lunch event, in a panel discussion on “AI-Leviathan: AI in the public sector and the public sphere”.
     
  • Silvia presents her research at the higher seminar of the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University, on October 13th 2022.
     
  • In November 2022, Silvia co-publishes a paper on “A structured analysis of the implementation of Articles 18–23 of the Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market into Swedish law” in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, (Volume 17, Issue 11, November 2022)
     
  • On 6/7 December 2022, Silvia is invited as a moderator at the NY AI Summit – Women in AI flagship summit, in New York (USA). She is a moderator at the welcome breakfast roundtable, the lunch fire chat discussions as well as in the panel on ‘Ethics and culture in the AI field’.

Last modified: 2023-03-16