The Production of Algorithmic Prediction

Predictive algorithms are being utilized more frequently to make risky or uncertain decisions regarding upcoming events or developments. These algorithms find applications in various fields such as police work, the judiciary system, risk assessment, and forecasting for humanitarian or strategic crises. This development raises the question of how algorithms impact the societal production of the future and what kind of “predictive knowledge” they produce.

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Ingmar Mundt is a sociologist and researches the role of digital technologists (esp. predictive algorithms), data and knowledge in future and risk predictions. His research focuses in particular on the sociology of technology and knowledge, science and technology studies, as well as critical algorithms/data studies. In his PhD project, he is working on the emergence process of 'predictive knowledge' in the interaction of actors and predictive algorithms.

Background

To mark the centenary of Weizenbaum’s birth, the alumni programs at Technische Universität Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin together with the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society organized the symposium "Critical Stances towards AI: For a Critical and Self-Determined Approach to Digital Technology" in September 2023. Researchers from the Weizenbaum Institute traveled to the USA - Joseph Weizenbaum’s adopted country - to meet with fellow researchers from North America to discuss the topics passionately addressed by Weizenbaum and thus promote transatlantic discourse about Joseph Weizenbaum and his influential work. At the heart of the discussions were questions dealing with the responsibility humans have regarding the development of artificial intelligence, particularly concerning disinformation and the social and also economic use of AI as well as regulating platforms, algorithms and global tech businesses – all questions intensively addressed by Weizenbaum and which could hardly be more relevant today.

As this topic has so many different aspects and is also of great importance worldwide, we would like to address other exciting aspects of the transformation of society through digitalization as part of the series of three lectures and at the same time expand the circle of participants.