Is data material? – ‘AI & Society’ publishes the second paper of maximilian pieper’s dissertation

On July 3rd, the second paper by IDK PhD student Maximilian Pieper “Is data material? Toward an environmental sociology of AI” was published by the renowned international journal “AI & Society”.

In the paper, Maximilian argues that critical social science studies of AI rarely focus on data extraction as a material process. By reducing data extraction to seemingly more material categories, such as the kilograms of resources, the megajoules of electricity, or the hours of labor that go into building computers, smartphones, sensors, or data centres, scholars overlook the unique socio-material processes inherent to data extraction. Focusing on these unique processes enables an environmental sociological perspective that integrates material concerns with social justice concerns.

The article can be found here.