For a Critical and Self-Determined Approach to Digital Technology

From September 28-29th, 2023 alumni of Freie Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, the Weizenbaum Institute and affiliated institutions met for a two-day symposium in New York City. The topic was the current debate about artificial intelligence and the critical approach to it - following the tradition of Joseph Weizenbaum, the German-American pioneer who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. Researchers, business representatives and critical audience discussed various aspects of artificial intelligence and human-machine interactions at the German House at New York University. What is the role of humans in artificial intelligence, what is the role of algorithms in digital societies? How can these algorithms and rankings distort information? And what about regulation, to what extent is the landscape already determined by a few players in Silicon Valley who set the digital pace and tend to pursue economic interests? The discussions and insights of the first day were rounded off by a keynote by Sarah Sharma, who presented a media-theoretical techno-feminist perspective.

The second day focused on the person of Joseph Weizenbaum, his life and career, including his emigration to the USA, his integration into the Jewish community, his most important achievements, including his chatbot Eliza, the forerunner of modern chatbots and artificial intelligence, as well as Weizenbaum’s early critical stance and admonition for self-determination in dealing with digital technologies. The event was rounded off by a lecture and city tour on Jewish life in New York with a focus on German-Jewish emigration in the years 1933-1945 and sites of Jewish life in Greenwich Village surrounding New York University. This concluded two days of immersion into the topic of artificial intelligence - of insights, challenges, questions, and appeals; two days of networking, getting to know each other, and staying connected with North American alumni in the heart of New York City.