Economics, Politics & Philosophy

of AI & Big Data

Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany

14-15 March 2019

WINIR sponsored the 5th Witten Conference on Institutional Change on “The Economics, Politics and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data” organised by the Witten Institute for Institutional Change (WIWa) at Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany, on 14-15 March 2019.

Artificial intelligence and big data will not only have a major impact on living conditions, labour, production and economic development. They also challenge political decision-makers to set up adequately designed institutions to prevent unwanted consequences of technological developments.

The conference provided a platform for discussion about economic, political, psychological, and ethical challenges which are brought up by recent technological changes. The focus was on bringing together scholars interested in interdisciplinary work on the institutional framework necessary for AI.

Keynote lectures

Jeroen van den Hoven (Delft University of Technology, philosophy)
Matthijs Michiel Maas (University of Copenhagen, law)
Len Shackleton (University of Buckingham, economics)

Papers from economics, politics, ethics, psychology, philosophy, and other relevant social sciences dealing with artificial intelligence and big data, including but not limited to the following topics, were welcome:

• regulation and governance issues of AI companies and applications
• labour market effects of AI and big data
• the impact of AI on growth and development
• ethical questions of using AI technologies
• legal aspects, e.g. liability rules for AI applications
• international competition of AI regulations

Scientific committee (WIWA): Nils-Christian Bormann (politics), Jens Harbecke (philosophy), Dirk Sauerland (economics), Magdalene Silberberger (economics).