AI Ethics: Algorithmic decision-making in public authority: the problem of democratic legitimacy

Abstract, Ludvig Beckman:

Machine learning algorithms (ML) are increasingly used in public decision-making. How should we evaluate this development from the vantage point of democratic legitimacy? Two accounts of democratic legitimacy are distinguished – the popular will theory and the public reason theory. While certain features of ML are in tension with legitimate public authority on both accounts, I argue that algorithmic decision-making is permissible and perhaps welcome under some conditions on the public reason view.

Bio:

Ludvig Beckman is Professor of Political Science at the University of Stockholm and the Institute for Futures Studies, Stockholm. His research is focused on questions of democratic inclusion, voting rights, democratic legitimacy and democratic constitutionalism. The monograph The Boundaries of Democracy. A theory of Inclusion, was published with Routledge in 2023 (open access).