Power to the people(?) – (How) can users of ComAI applications participate in governance processes?
PhD project of Kim Lisa Ermler
According to OpenAI, 300 million people now use ChatGPT every week, exchanging a trillion messages with the bot.
In many cases, it is the companies behind the applications that decide what is permitted and what not – a process also known as private ordering.
The legitimacy of these rules is primarily negotiated by economic and political decision-makers. Users have little say in the matter, even though they are directly affected by the rules. This situation is also referred to as the Paradox of AI Governance: applications that are used by large sections of society, and yet their regulation is shaped by a small number of experts.
Against this backdrop, the research question guiding this work is: Can users participate in the governance processes of ComAI applications? And if so, how? This work focuses on analysing the policies of ComAI providers, the media discourse on ComAI and various possibilities for participation.
Contact
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp
ZeMKI, Center for Media, Communication and Information Research
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218-67620
Assistent Mrs. Schober: +49 421 218-67603
E-mail: andreas.hepp@uni-bremen.de
