New book: “The Power of Data” (in German)

I’m delighted to announce that my new book “The Power of Data: Why Artificial Intelligence is a Question of Ethics” (in German) has been published today. The book provides a vivid exploration of how our daily data production on the web has led to a new form of power in the hands of AI companies, and its impact on society. Using the concept of “predictive power,” the book discusses how data companies can derive personal information from our data traces using AI algorithms, and how such predictions are used to treat us differently. This poses a new challenge for privacy in the context of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, which I describe as “predictive privacy”: predictions about us can violate our privacy and be used to restrict our autonomy. To address this complex issue, we need an ethics of artificial intelligence that recognizes AI as a power technology and problematizes its structural impacts.

The book is an expanded version of the “Osnabrück University Speech” I gave on May 19, 2022, under the same title. The PDF version is available free of charge (Open Access), while the print version can be purchased from the publisher or in bookstores for 15€.

Blurb: On the Internet, we generate data every day that we often think is harmless – our likes, our location or our browser history. But companies that own this data can use AI algorithms to derive intimate information from it. Do we suffer from mental illness? Do we abuse substances? Are we rich or poor? Such algorithms are used to treat people differently in an automated way – when it comes to the price of insurance, the selection of applicants in hiring processes, decisions about credit or immigration. The combination of Big Data and AI is currently producing a new technology of population management. This development leads to a new form of power in our societies, to which we all contribute through our data and which we therefore need to discuss critically and ethically.

Download options and bibliographic data

1. 

   Mühlhoff, Rainer. 2023. Die Macht der Daten. Warum Künstliche Intelligenz eine Frage der Ethik ist. V&R unipress, Universitätsverlag Osnabrück. doi:10.14220/9783737015523.

   Full text Publisher's website bibtex

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   @book{Mü2023:MD,
     title = {Die Macht der Daten. Warum Künstliche Intelligenz eine Frage der Ethik ist},
     author = {Mühlhoff, Rainer},
     doi = {10.14220/9783737015523},
     isbn = {978-3-8471-1552-6,978-3-7370-1552-3},
     publisher = {V&R unipress, Universitätsverlag Osnabrück},
     url = {https://www.vr-elibrary.de/doi/book/10.14220/9783737015523},
     year = {2023},
     web_group = {books},
     web_thumbnail = {/assets/images/publications/Mü2023:MD.jpg},
     web_fulltext = {/media/publications/mühlhoff_2023_die_macht_der_daten.pdf},
     web_publisher = {https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/themen-entdecken/schule-und-unterricht/ethik-werte-und-normen/58171/die-macht-der-daten}
   }