Artificial intelligence (AI) applications are now being used in more and more areas of society. This is a conceptual challenge for sociology because it is still unclear which concepts can be used to adequately grasp the relationship between the social and AI. The project aims to take the first steps towards a social theory of AI. On the one hand, it draws on approaches from the sociology of technology and, on the other, on socialization theories and pragmatist concepts of “implicit knowledge”. Of central importance is a generalized concept of learning that can be used to articulate similarities and differences between human and machine learning. The academic purpose of a systematic social theory of artificial intelligence is to lay a foundation for a sociological understanding of AI. One possible practical outcome is to develop a socially compatible concept of artificial intelligence that enables a more appropriate perception of the potentials and risks of AI than the widespread distorted image of AI as a ‘human-like machine’.
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