Abstract
AbstractThis paper explores a neglected normative dimension of algorithmic opacity in the workplace and the labor market. It argues that explanations of algorithms and algorithmic decisions are of noninstrumental value. That is because explanations of the structure and function of parts of the social world form the basis for reflective clarification of our practical orientation toward the institutions that play a central role in our life. Using this account of the noninstrumental value of explanations, the paper diagnoses distinctive normative defects in the workplace and economic institutions which a reliance on AI can encourage, and which lead to alienation.
Highlights
Imagine that you live in an unjust society that counts trustworthy, omniscient, and unusually straightforward oracles among its members
This paper focuses on the value of normative explanation in the workplace, a domain in which the transparency of institutional structure and functioning has not received as much attention as, say, the political sphere
The argument for the noninstrumental value of normative explanations of one’s workplace and economic institutions starts from the Hegelian commitment that understanding the structure and functioning of one’s social world is noninstrumentally valuable because it allows one to form an appropriate practical orientation toward it
Summary
Imagine that you live in an unjust society that counts trustworthy, omniscient, and unusually straightforward oracles among its members. Explanations of the structure and functioning of organizations and social institutions are of noninstrumental value because they form the basis for reflective clarification of the all-things-considered practical orientation we each cannot help but take toward our own. This paper focuses on the value of normative explanation in the workplace, a domain in which the transparency of institutional structure and functioning has not received as much attention as, say, the political sphere. I argue that technical opacity does not pose the largest threat to the availability of normative explanations in the workplace and economic institutions. Mechanisms of worker isolation (section 5) and control (section 6), which have been expanded and transformed by AI, pose a greater threat
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