Democracy requires an informed society. However, algorithms are increasingly determining which news stories and opinions we see. Recommendation systems draw on past data and can exacerbate existing biases. If many people use the same systems, the diversity of opinion-forming may also suffer. At the same time, it is becoming easier to generate text, images and other content using artificial intelligence (AI), making it harder to distinguish between reliable and false information.
Abraham Bernstein, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at the University of Zurich, discusses what it means to rely on AI and why this is not the same as trust. AI is a mechanism built by humans. People also decide which data is used and for what purposes. What AI can, should and is allowed to do is therefore also a societal question.
Abraham Bernstein is a professor of computer science and director of the Digital Society Initiative (DSI) at the University of Zurich, and a member of the DIZH Management Board. The University of Zurich’s Digital Society Initiative (DSI) has been addressing issues at the interface between technology and society for ten years. Through its interdisciplinary activities in research, education and public engagement, it serves as the University of Zurich’s (UZH) centre of excellence for digital transformation.
DSI and Abraham Bernstein
- 10 years DSI
- Abraham Bernstein, Ph.D: profile and information on research and activities
Mentioned in the episode
- Panel discussion on Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica humanitas”
- Encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas”
- Media Quality yearbook 2025, a study by the Research Centre for Public Sphere and Society (fög) at the University of Zurich on news deprivation
- Study by Fabrizio Dell’Acqua on AI-assisted recruitment decisions: “Falling Asleep at the Wheel: Human/AI Collaboration in a Field Experiment on HR Recruiters“
- Digital Trust Label from the Swiss Digital Initiative
- Husk IRL: A content creator who uses AI to produce entertaining and sometimes absurd videos for Instagram and TikTok. Instagram @husk.irl