The Adoption of Artificial Intelligence in Bureaucratic Decision-making

A Weberian Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID11626222
AuthorsRodrigo Cetina Presuel (0000-0002-1061-0166, Senior Lecturer in Law and Public Policy, Associate Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, Barcelona School of Management, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain), Jose M Martinez Sierra (0000-0001-8410-877X, Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Year2023
Volume5
Issue1
Pages1-20
Publication date2023-07-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDigital Government: Research and Practice (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2691-199X • E-ISSN: 2639-0175
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1145/3609861
OpenAlexW4384694305
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited58

This work questions AI ́s role in bureaucratic decision-making. The Weberian conception of bureaucracy, based around the concept of an ideal bureaucracy in which authority is distributed, delegated, clearly delimited and hierarchical and that enshrines the following of formal rules, task specialization through division of labor, legal certainty and a predilection for efficiency in recordable and accountable decisions can serve as a framework to orient how governments should approach the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) given the many problems associated with its careless deployment. Using theoretical analysis, this work explains Weberian ideas of bureaucracy and contrasts them with real-life cases of implementation of AI in bureaucratic decision-making, often with detrimental results for society. After identifying and framing issues related to AI, e.g., lack of transparency, attempts to shift accountability from humans to technology, the exacerbation of bias and potential for systemic discrimination, the paper proposes Weberian prescriptions that should help public administration make careful decisions about the adoption of AI and the consequences of its implementation. The article also engages with Weber critically, rejecting the notion that public administrators do not engage in politics and asserting that AI decision-making is necessarily political as well, as it entails exercising power over citizens

Accountability · Bureaucracy · Epistemology · Framing (construction · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Transparency (behavior · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Public Administration · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access