V CONFERENCIA INTERNACIONAL de SOCIOLOGÍA de las POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS y SOCIALES
Inteligencia Artificial, Economía, Democracia y Derecho:
un encuentro inevitable.

V International Conference on Sociology of Public and Social Policies
Artificial Intelligence, Economics, Democracy and Law:
an unavoidable convergence

MAY 20—21, 2021

Throughout history, various technological innovations - such as the printing press, the steam machine, the telephone, the washing machine (Chang 2011), the computer... - have changed daily life by transforming situations, scenarios and contexts. Until recently, we considered that Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of things had more to do with the future than with the present. However, they are already part of our daily life and contribute to recreate reality. Nowadays, there is no discipline that remains aside from the vertiginous novelties that the so called Artificial Intelligence implies and brings along. While the Internet of things collects data, Artificial Intelligence processes them to give them meaning. Law, health, environment, economy in any of its sectors and even public policies are increasingly influenced and affected by what is apparently "only" a digital tool.

Regardless of technical issues, among other challenges faced by Artificial Intelligence are (i) unraveling the biases in the development of algorithms, (ii) ensuring the confidentiality and security of individuals, (iii) in addition to addressing even ethical and legal issues yet unknown. At the same time, this new wave of technology represents a business opportunity for many companies, but at the same time the lack of precedents constitutes a territory that has not been tested, with new laws and cases emerging quickly. Capitalism has gone digital and it is expressed through what Shoshana Zuboff (2019) has described as surveillance capitalism.
 
The unstoppable power of Artificial Intelligence demands an interdisciplinary view where technologists, philosophers, economists and jurists can debate. A joint, integral and transversal reflection is necessary. A task that allows to know more and better which are the potential derivations and repercussions of its use. Not only and not so much in the "pure" scientific-technological field but in the field of rights, welfare and private and community life.

Thus, the path to be followed must be used to place people in the central focus of attention. Only by bringing together complementary perspectives, on the part of public and private institutions, does it seem possible to access the evident complexity of what is, at the same time, a tool and a strategy. Given that, like any instrument, its uses can be very varied and not always desirable or ethically relevant.
In this context, we would like to return to the debate on public and social policies.

This is a challenge to which we want to dedicate our 5th Conference on Public and Social Policies, for the debate, analysis, reflection and exchange of results of research projects