Digital Policy

The discourse surrounding artificial intelligence inevitably raises fundamental questions of human rights and democracy: whose lives are affected, in what ways, and who is allowed to participate in the policy decisions responding to those impacts. This perspective lies at the core of the concerns raised by Yeo-kyeong Chang, who argues that AI policy operating within broader structures of labor, care, welfare, public safety, climate, and social power should be understood not merely as a matter of industrial policy, but first and foremost as a matter of social policy tied to citizens’ rights and social justice.

As the government and industry accelerate the AI race, civil society groups continue to warn about privacy violations, labor control, the spread of surveillance technologies, and broader human rights concerns. Yet the digital justice movement has not yet grown into a broad-based social movement. Jang Yeo-kyung, Executive Director of the Institute for Digital Rights(IDR), warns that although the harms may still appear fragmented, the rights of citizens and the principles of democracy are already being put to the test.  

As generative AI rapidly expands and discourse surrounding an “AI Basic Society” and the ambition to become one of the world’s “Top3 AI Powers” intensifies, calls are growing in South Korea for technology to be understood from more multidimensional perspectives. We spoke with Yeo-kyeong Chang, Executive Director of the institute, about the evolution of Korea’s information rights movement, the demands civil society is raising from the perspective of digital justice in the age of artificial intelligence, and its perspective on the governance shaping AI policymaking. 

Astro Hsu investigates how financial regulators for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) may balance between privacy protection and law enforcement efficacy. “Zero-knowledge proof” is a promising approach.

Katharina Klappheck examines AI’s intricate layers of power dynamics that leads to gender and racial invisibility, exclusion, and labour exploitation.

Aifric Campbell explores the future of love and intimacy as our attention to humans is seduced by machines.

This essay collection presents how rapid developments in human-machine interactions bring challenges in ethics, labour, gender equality, and intimacy.

AI chatbots introduce ethical issues that complicate social communication. This article discusses environmental impacts, fair use, and limits of language.

In Japan, despite the hiking single elderly population, there is a chronic shortage of caregivers for home visit. As many single seniors struggle to find a conversation partner, what about interacting with a robot instead of a human? Recently, the United States introduced communication robots to minimise medical costs incurred from the elderly’s social isolation. What can the world learn from Japan?

At the end of March 2022, Shanghai was plunged into surreal silence, and scarcity. The country’s strictest Covid-19 pandemic lockdown lasted for two months. Never, since decades, had the people minded their three meals that much, to the extent of becoming the only thing they cared about. In their struggles for self-sufficiency and survival, group buying came to rescue. Did dwellers find a new sense of community or were they more fragmented?