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Power and politics of Artificial Intelligence Vol 22 (Nº 2) July-December |
Teknokultura. Journal of Digital Culture and Social Movements of the Complutense University of Madrid, indexed in JCR, Dialnet Métricas and with FECYT indicator, is calling for articles and video essays for thematic issue on "Power and politics of artificial intelligence" which will be published in vol. 22(2) july-december (in its final version) or immediately after acceptance (online firts). Although artificial Intelligence (AI) has been applied in the public sphere for years, since November 2022 with the release of OpenAI's ChatGPT, it has become a matter of significant public interest for the analysis of social and cultural transformations. Its uses and potentials represent a leap in human capabilities. Technical knowledge and machine training can be used to build projects to aid life and the sustainability of the planet, enabling medical uses, support, analysis, and services for public utility. However, this tool has emerged within the logic of a capitalism that drives processes of social organization automation aimed at delegating human agency to the corporate technological conglomerate. Understanding the situation requires moving beyond the purely technical dominance towards the political thinking of the power structures that regulate the machine and body programming. Today, AI is spoken of as a manifest desire for salvation that conceals imminent challenges and dangers. For some time now, AI has filled cinema screens, fueling discourses of fear that, in many ways, hinder a critical approach to the social and cultural phenomenon. Additionally, the social influence industry relies on AI to manipulate political elections in what has already been announced as new forms of psychological warfare, as was the case with Cambridge Analytica. The development of AI is leading to the concentration of databases in the hands of private conglomerates, the only ones capable of hosting the incalculable computational power necessary to make it work, surpassing any public project. Big tech companies often present themselves as post-material projects linked to knowledge and communication, without disclosing their power structures or the devastating material impact in terms of energy consumption, mineral extraction, generation of toxic waste, exploitation of cheap labor (ghost work, gig economy), and concealment of those who work in content review centers on platforms. Several creative projects and regulatory initiatives have developed seeking to change this totalitarian bias, from data feminisms to new forms of algorithmic resistance that deserve visibility and viralization. However, AI immersed in the logic of capital implies the concentration of information in very few hands and, therefore, power. Without any regulation, AI voraciously feeds on all the biases of a patriarchal, colonial, violent, and unequal world. Financial capitalism thrives on these legally ambiguous data extraction forms. Big tech corporations (GAFAM, BATX) have exerted a growing monopoly for almost three decades, to which national states have not wanted or been able to curb. A massive, asymmetric and colonial extractivism of data and resources has been necessary for the training, operation, and control of algorithms. To understand the current challenges, it is necessary to sum perspectives capable of analyzing in detail the specific developments of AI as part of a totalizing social process, thus moving away from instrumental visions. The belief in the impartial, inexorable, and inevitable nature of digital technodeterminism, exacerbated by the increasing speed and complexity of technological changes that challenge our capacity for assimilation, short-circuits the possibilities of a critical evaluation of the phenomenon. Summing up, what is at stake is the development of a political imagination capable of interpreting the possibilities of a different present time, capable of elaborating new concepts and frameworks of interpretation around freedom, justice, equality, communication, power, and democracy. List of topics of interest:
Original research articles (up to 7,000 words) or original video essays (up to 10 minutes) will be accepted until September 15, 2024. The works should not have been previously published or be under consideration by other journals or publications. Research articles: presentation guidelines can be found at: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/TEKN/about/submissions Each section has its own templates and can be downloaded at: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/TEKN/Plantillas The section policies (editorial guidelines of the journal's sections, length, and blind review system) can be found at: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/TEKN/politicasecciones
Video essays: The maximum length is 10 minutes. he maximum length of the written statement is 500/1000 words, including bibliography (and filmography), graphics and other supplementary material. The works should not have been previously published or be under consideration by other journals or publications. The authors must upload the video essay on Vimeo, preferably on a webpage under protection by password, or Critical Commons, and submit the proposal to the journal as indicated on section policies and submission templates. This thematic issue will be coordinated Daniel H. Cabrera Altieri (Associate Professor at the University of Zaragoza, and researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the CSIC), Guiomar Rovira Sancho (Associate Professor at the University of Girona), José Antonio Zamora Zaragoza (Scientific at the Institute of Philosophy of the CSIC) and Ángel Carrasco-Campos Associate Professor at the University of Valladolid). For any inquiries, please contact the following emails: danhcab@unizar.es, guiomar.rovira@udg.edu, joseantonio.zamora@cchs.csic.es, y angel.carrasco.campos@uva.es. |
