Hot off the press!
- Sinead Quealy
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Digital Humanism: First Interdisciplinary Science and Research Conference, DIGHUM 2025, Vienna, Austria, November 20–21, 2025, Proceedings
This collection of papers will take a while to digest, but it's worthy challenge. The preface summarises the importance well:
"Technological change is expanding the boundaries of what is possible. There are strong reasons to be concerned about the enormous concentration of power, resources, and the prioritization of future AI R&D directions in the hands of very few players. We understand Digital Humanism as an approach that describes, analyzes, and — most importantly — influences this complex interplay of technology and humankind for a better society and life, fully respecting universal human rights. The papers collected in this volume take up this challenge and contribute to the understanding of the fundamental changes our world is undergoing at this moment. They examine new opportunities enabled by technological advances as well as the tremendous risks inherent in digitalization, envisaging the prospects for a better life in the digitalized era."
One paper in particular jumped out: "Start Using Justifications When Explaining AI Systems to Decision Subjects" by Klára Kolářová and Timothée Schmude (pg 205). It struck me because it is so reasonable in what it suggest: let's clearly inform people about how decisions about them were made. It brought to mind recent scandals in the UK - the Post Office scandal, and now the Carer's scandal, where citizens (decision subjects, if you will) have had to bear detrimental effects of badly designed, tested, implemented algorithms.
If these scandals could happen before the supercharged AI systems currently available, SURELY their lessons are being studiously analysed with a determination that no such negative impacts can happen to citizens again?
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