Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and social inequality: Sociological contributions to contemporary debates

Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic systems have been criticized for perpetuating bias, unjust discrimination, and contributing to inequality. Artificial intelligence researchers have remained largely oblivious to existing scholarship on social inequality, but a growing number of sociologists are now addressing the social transformations brought about by AI. Where bias is typically presented as an undesirable characteristic that can be removed from AI systems, engaging with social inequality scholarship leads us to consider how these technologies reproduce existing hierarchies and the positive visions we can work towards. I argue that sociologists can help assert agency over new technologies through three kinds of actions: (1) critique and the politics of refusal; (2) fighting inequality through technology; and (3) governance of algorithms. As we become increasingly dependent on AI and automated systems, the dangers of further entrenching or amplifying social inequalities have been well documented, particularly with the growing adoption of these systems by government agencies. However, public policy also presents some opportunities to restructure social dynamics in a positive direction, as long as we can articulate what we are trying to achieve, and are aware of the risks and limitations of utilizing these new technologies to address social problems.