“Public sector digitalisation: Safeguarding the autonomy and integrity of spheres”

Abstract: Societies worldwide are undergoing digital transitions. Digitalization is expected to contribute to economic growth, sustainable infrastructures and societal wellbeing. In many public sectors this is leading to a “digital first” mindset. But public sector digitalization brings with it important risks. First, the growing dependency of society on services and infrastructure provided by Big Tech can lead to aloss of autonomy and democratic oversight of sectors responsible for the delivery of basic public goods, like healthcare, education and public services. Second, the values that digitalization brings with it, such as increased efficiency, convenience and personalization, often conflict with the core values that have traditionally organized public sectors and that underpin notions of, e.g. good healthcare, good education and good public service. This can lead to a marginalization of these values and a loss of integrity of public sectors. In this talk I propose a sphere-centric theory of justice that seeks to safeguard the autonomy and integrity of public sectors in the digital transition. 

Bio: Tamar Sharon is Professor of Philosophy, Digitalization and Society at Radboud University in the Netherlands, where she co-directs the Interdisciplinary Hub for Digitalization and Society (iHub).Tamar is a member of the European Commission’s European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and the Royal Netherlands Academy for Arts and Sciences. 

For the link to the Teams webinar, please visit S-AI-REN website S-AI-REN Soundings – Social AI Research and Education Network