“Al Narrative Breakdown: A Critical Assessment of Power and Promise” – Rainer Rehak

PLAMADISO Talk by Rainer Rehak (Weizenbaum Institute) – 18 December 2025 || Organized by the Research Group “Digital Economy, Internet Ecosystem & Internet Policy” @Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society   Title “Al Narrative Breakdown: A Critical Assessment of Power and Promise” Abstract This article sets off for an exploration of the still evolving discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (#AI) in the wake of the release of #ChatGPT. It scrutinizes the pervasive narratives that are shaping the societal engagement with AI, spotlighting key themes such as agency and decision-making, autonomy, truthfulness, knowledge processing, prediction, general purpose, neutrality and objectivity, apolitical optimization, #sustainability game-changer, democratization, mass unemployment, and the dualistic portrayal of AI as either a harbinger of societal utopia or dystopia. Those narratives are analysed critically based on insights from critical computer science, critical data and algorithm studies, from STS, data protection theory, as well as from the philosophy of mind and semiotics. To properly analyse the narratives presented, the article first delves into a historical and technical contextualisation of the AI discourse itself. The article then introduces the notion of “Zeitgeist AI” to critique the imprecise and misleading application of the term “AI” across various societal sectors. Then, by discussing common narratives with nuance, the article contextualises and challenges often assumed socio-political implications of AI, uncovering in detail and with examples the inherent political, power infused and value-laden decisions within all AI applications. Concluding with a call for a more grounded engagement with AI, the article carves out acute problems ignored by the narratives discussed and proposes new narratives recognizing AI as a human-directed tool necessarily subject to societal governance. Link to the paper: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/371527...   Short Bio Rainer Rehak is part of the research groups “Digitalization, Sustainability, and Participation” and “Technology, Power, and Domination” at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, Berlin, he is an associated researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and is currently pursuing his PhD on systemic IT security and societal data protection at the TU Berlin. He studied computer science and philosophy in Berlin and Hong Kong and has been working on the implications of the computerization of society for over 15 years. His research fields include technology impact assessment, collective data protection, systemic IT security, state hacking, computer science and ethics, fictions of technology, digitization and sustainability, convivial and democratic digital technology, epistemics of automation, digital (de-)colonialism, and the implications and limits of AI systems. He also publishes regularly in non-scientific outlets and is an expert witness for parliaments (e.g., the German Bundestag) and courts (e.g., the German Constitutional Court). He is co-chair of the German NGO “Computer Professionals for Peace and Societal Responsibility” (FIfF). Together with other digital policy and environmental organizations, he initiated the “Bits & Bäume” conference series for digitization and sustainability. More about Rainer Rehak: Website: https://www.weizenbaum-institut.de/en... Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?... Stay tuned for future events: https://plamadiso.weizenbaum-institut.de Follow us on X: https://x.com/JWI_Digi_Econ Follow us on LinkedIn:   / plamadiso   Find all PLAMADISO Talks in our playlist:    • Plamadiso Talks   The Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society: https://weizenbaum-institut.de/