The Algorithmic City

Abstract

This book argues that computing technologies, especially AI, have radically transformed the conditions of social life, while analytical political philosophy has barely adjusted its model of social relations in response. The first lecture introduces the ‘Algorithmic City’: the network of algorithmically mediated social relations through which platforms, recommender systems, and emerging AI agents exercise intermediary power. Instead of assuming that the power of these algorithmic intermediaries is inherently objectionable, it shows that it must and can be justified, but that doing so raises novel questions for our theories of political authority, procedural legitimacy, and substantive justification. The second lecture applies this framework to the digital public sphere. It argues that freedom of expression cannot by itself guide the design of algorithmically mediated online communication, because platforms do not merely permit or restrict speech: they shape communication and distribute attention, in particular through the algorithmic amplification of online speech. It develops communicative justice as an ideal for governing that power, and identifies regulatory and technical initiatives that could advance communicative justice. The lectures are followed by commentaries by Renée Jorgensen, Marion Fourcade, Joshua Cohen, and Arvind Narayanan, and by the author’s reply to their challenges.