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AI and Inequalities

Citizens, Society and Artificial Intelligence (CiSAI)

AI systems could affect patterns of inequality in a whole range of ways. They may change patterns of employment, systematically putting many people who perform more or less routine tasks out of work. At the same time, people (or social classes) controlling AI might reap significant economic benefits. A central worry is that AI systems blindly reproduce unequal historical pattern in social interaction. Many scholars therefore highlight AI’s reproduction of gendered, racial and potentially other forms of discrimination.

AI and related technologies can be powerful aides in daily life, as they relieve us of routine tasks and make information more easily accessible. Such benefits may be unevenly distributed, however, as the ability to reap them may require particular cognitive skills or simply the financial resources to afford AI-powered products.

We may see some citizens leading AI-enhanced lives and others not. At the same time, AI can also ameliorate socio-economic differences, for example by making automated healthcare advice, standardised diagnostic services or automated educational tools much more widely available than they are now (particularly in poor countries).

Central questions

  • What are the effects of AI application on socio-economic inequality?
  • How do such patterns vary across the globe?
  • How do black-box AI systems interact with entrenched forms of inequality, for example along gender or racial lines?
  • Which policies do (or should) governments implement to counteract such dynamics (AI impact mitigation)?

Ongoing research

The impact of automation and robotization on labour markets and inequality in them
Researcher: Thijs Bol

Impact of AI use in education on both the effectiveness of instruction and inequality in it
Researchers: Frank Cornelissen, Jaap Schuitema, Monique Volman

Use of AI methods improve the quality of psychological measurement and therefore reduce bias and hopefully inequality / Modeling Creativity Lab & Math Garden Lab
Researchers: Han van der Maas, Claire Stevenson, Matthijs Baas, Raoul Grasman

a brain full with colours
Model Creativity Lab

Creativity is the cognitive ability to produce original and useful outcomes (e.g. ideas, insights or products). In a rapidly changing world, creative minds become indispensable. Therefore, the measurement of creativity becomes more and more important for both researchers and businesses.

More information?

Visit the overview page of our platform Citizens, Society and Artificial Intelligence (CiSAI).