Transforming Capitalism in the Age of AI

Wednesday, 6 December | 17:30 - 21:30 CET | Claridge Events, Brussels

Are you interested in European AI policy but cannot join the closed-door trilogue negotiations on the AI Act on the evening of 6 December? Not to worry! Join us instead at the Claridge in Brussels for an evening of debate, drinks, and a walking dinner reception, where we look at the neoliberal politics and ideology behind AI – and what to do about it.

Historian Evgeny Morozov will explain in a keynote why we should look beyond the AI Act: AI is not simply a tool we can make ‘human-centric’ with a few legislative tweaks. The technology is developed by firms and people who believe in the inevitability and superiority of AI and the power of markets and profits over the collective. Instead of accepting that logic and outsourcing even more responsibilities to Big Tech and their ‘miracle AI’, Europe should devise a broad response to technology that reflects its values.

This is especially true for the workplace, where the introduction of algorithmic management and AI has led to increasing precariousness, surveillance, control, and deskilling of workers. In a second keynote, Professor Phoebe Moore will explore the introduction of ‘AI’ in the workplace, its interests, and its effects on workers.

We end with a reaction by European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit about aligning AI with democracy, solidarity, and human dignity. This is urgent, as the next wave of tech – machine learning models from Chat-GPT to Stable Diffusion – is hitting our shores. Commissioner Schmit has proposed ground-breaking legislation on platform workers' rights and is working on a proposal that will regulate AI in the workplace.

Speakers are:

Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, European Commission

Evgeny Morozov, Founder, the Syllabus; author of several books on technology and politics

Phoebe V Moore, Professor of Management and the Futures of Work, University of Essex Business School

Maria Joâo Rodrigues, President, Foundation for European Progressive Studies

Justin Nogarede, Senior Policy Officer, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Competence Centre on the Future of Work

John Thornhill, Innovation Editor of The Financial Times, will moderate the discussion.

This event is organised by FEPS and FES Future of Work with Euractiv as a Media Partner.

Find out more.