AI and the Disruption of the Social by Goetz Ottmann, Carolyn Noble

AI and the Disruption of the Social analyses digital automation and the disruption of both the social and social work, in response to rapid advances in digital technology, automated decision-making, and artificial intelligence (AI) within systems of governance, work, education, and everyday life.

Establishing that we’re now entering a ‘fourth industrial revolution’ driven by late capitalism, this volume approaches technological advancements with a critical lens, exploring how digital automation is disrupting the social, and particularly the lives of the most vulnerable. Contributors suggest that AI systems are amplifying existing socio-economic, gender, and racial biases and stereotypes in our society, suggesting that an ethical and progressive political response is needed to counteract this. Arguing that digital advancements represent a push to commodify human ‘intelligence’ while advancing state surveillance projects and coercive control, this work explores how automation is transforming the knowledge and skills required to thrive in human services roles and within a civil society.

This book highlights important philosophical, epistemological, ethical, educational, and practice challenges for governments, human services practitioners, and educators and will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, social policy, and sociology.