Introduction to the Handbook on the Politics and Governance of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence

Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have pervaded all aspects of modern life. For decades, popular culture and science fiction literature have frequently featured autonomous systems, robots, algorithms and other manifestations—or imaginations—of what data-driven lives could look like. Asimov’s three laws of robotics or Philip K. Dick’s question whether androids dream of electric sheep have inspired not only Hollywood but scientific research too. With the turn to the new millennium, Big Data infrastructures and methods using some form of machine learning gained permanent foothold in scientific debates across all disciplines. They reshape the way scientific success is measured, established and communicated. In a similar manner, politics and governance are heavily influenced and shaped by Big Data and AI. The control over
Big Data infrastructures and the ‘possession’ of the most advanced AI—in whichever form available—is a strategic priority for political leaders in the East and the West.