Digital Rights, Digital Jusitce and Artificial Inteligence In Turbulent Times

The proliferation of AI technologies across all spheres of social life has made issues related to digital rights and digital justice increasingly urgent. Unequal access to and control over digital infrastructure reproduce entrenched hierarchies while generating new forms of exclusion—dynamics that this session aims to critically analyse.

Drawing on sociocybernetics perspective, the session analyses recursive feedback loops between human agency, AI-mediated processes, and evolving societal structures. Special attention is devoted to how algorithmic systems reproduce and entrench bias across critical domains — including labour markets, healthcare provision, and law enforcement — and to how data capitalism concentrates unprecedented power over personal data and digital infrastructures in the hands of both big tech corporations and states.

The session adopts an explicitly global lens, exploring how dynamics of digital justice manifest differently across diverse cultural and geopolitical contexts. Through the comparative analysis of case studies drawn from multiple world regions, participants will work towards identifying structural patterns and developing concrete strategies for mitigating the adverse social impacts of AI deployment.

Papers grounded in a sociocybernetic framework are especially encouraged. Contributions from adjacent theoretical traditions — including critical data studies, science and technology studies, political economy, and legal scholarship — are equally welcome. Speculative and imaginative papers exploring possible future developments in AI governance and digital justice are actively solicited.

The session will allocate ample time for open discussion, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue aimed at charting collective pathways towards a more just and equitable digital future.