Tobias Matzner

Everyone seems to agree that we need explainable AI — computer scientists, policy makers, and digital literacy programs. Yet, do we really need explainable AI? What does it mean to posit such a need? Who needs it? Which different alternatives to solving problems with AI does it preclude? My colleagues Suzana Alpsancar, Heike M. Buhl, Ingrid Scharlau and myself discuss these issues in our new paper: Explanation needs and ethical demands: unpacking the instrumental value of XAI.

Steffen Herrmann, Gerhard Thonhauser, Sophie Loidolt, Nils Baratella and myself have editited the Routledge Handbook of Political Phenomemonolgy, which is out now! It explores the connections of phenomenology with political and critical thought widely conceived, both regarding important thinkers in the field of phenomenology and concerning relevant topics ranging from race, gender and intersectionality to technology and the environment.

Gerade ist das Handbuch Künstliche Intelligenz und die Künste herausgegeben von Stephanie Catani erschienen. In einem Beitrag diskutiere ich die Frage, welche ethischen Problem sich stellen, wenn KI für Kunst eingesetzt wird, aber auch welche ethischen Fragen und Problematisierungen die Künste selbst anstoßen können.

My new book on Alogrithms is out. Titled Algorithms: Technology, Culture, Politics it tries to establish a two-way exchange: give political discussion on algorithms a technological foundation and bring politics to technical discourses. Here is the summary by the publisher.

The new volume Affective Formation of Publics is out! I have contributed a text that discusses the affective impact of algorithms on publics. This question has been dominated by grandiose claims both in policy debates (e.g. filter bubble) and dubious industries (think Cambridge Analytica). I argue that too often critics have bought into these narratives — even if to show how dangerous algorithms are for publics. Instead, as I show in my text, a more sober analysis is necessary, which yields that algorithms indeed pose problems for publics. Yet, these problems are different than those often claimed and need a more thorough understanding of the structural role affects play for publics in general.

I have been elected as a member of the editorial board for “Big Data and Society”.

The recording of my talk and discussions with Koketso Moeti has been released on youtube and Medico’ site. For now it’s German only, English and Spanish will follow… Be sure to also check the other parts of the series!

Publishing sometimes takes time, but finally the new book edited by Maria Robaszkiewicz and myself is out: Hannah Arendt: Challenges of Plurality collects revised contributions to the conference we organized with Jochen Schmidt in 2018. I covers Arendtian perspectives on pressing issues such as migration, the change of public spaces, affects in politics or racism. It also puts Arendt into dialogue with thinkers as diverse as Adorno or Pierce.

On Monday, 15 November Koketso Moeti and I will be guests and Medico International’s lecture series Troubling Psyches. We will discuss which affective dynamics emerge in public spheres controlled by algorithms and which approaches of a new digital activism enable local and transnational alliances between the excluded. You can join online!

Der neue Sammelband von Florian Sprenger über “Autonome Autos” ist erschienen. Neben vielen anderen Lesenswerten Beiträgen findet sich dort mein Text: Die Fußgänger:innen der autonomen Kraftfahrzeuge. Dort geht es darum, wie Fußgänger:innen für autonome Kraftfahrzeuge vermittelt werden — nicht nur technisch sondern auch in Bezug auf grundlegende Dispositive des Verkehrs aber z.B. auch die Arbeitsteilung in der Informatik und den Ingenieurswissenschaften. Der Text illustriert die von mir entwickelte Methode der algorithmischen Dispositivanalyse. Sie baut auf Foucault auf und bietet eine kulturwissenschaftliche Methodik für den Umgang mit Texten aus der Informatik.

Das alles gibt es Open Access!