The project studies Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our contemporary society. What is the impact of AI, robotics, big data, online social media and searchplaces entering our workforce and our daily lives on the global economy and human society?
With 24/7 working robots that can live eternally entering our workforce without having feelings, ethical questions arise whether robots, algorithms and AI should be granted citizenship and legally be considered as quasi-human beings — a technocratic and legal trend that has already started.
The descriptive and empirical research targets at aiding a successful introduction of AI into the workforce and society but also asks critical questions in unraveling the ethical boundaries of our future artificial world.
How to balance robots living forever in light of overpopulation and finite resources? How do we switch quasi-human intelligence off when misbehaving or if AI life has become a burden that cannot be borne by society?
In light of robots already having gained citizenship and being attributed as quasi-human legally, should AI and robots be granted full citizen rights – such as voting rights? Should we reap the economic benefits of AI and have a democracy with a diversified populace including robots? If so, should robotics be designed to resemble human beings (e.g., with emotions and fallibilities) or do we want to strive for creating completely rational AI? Would feelingless AI be vulnerable or will the computational power and energetic capacities of robots outperform humankind?
Given the humane fallibility and biases, would a rational AI agent make better democratic choices? Should AI therefore be used for governance as for being insusceptible to bribery and fraud, or does the installment of algorithms in leadership positions imbue dangers to humankind?
How should we organize the human-led evolution of AI production and the blend of human-AI enhanced workforce? And what is it that makes human humane in the artificial age?
The project investigates the economic, legal and societal impact of AI from an ethical perspective. The current legal status of robots being referred to as quasi-human is discussed and this diversified society’s implications for the general populace and democracy.
Humanness is highlighted as key to future success in the age of AI and automated control. The research draws from behavioral human decision making insights and evolutionary economics in order to outline what makes human humane and how human decision making is unique to set us apart from AI. AI is argued to bevalue humanness and improve the value of human-imbued unique features.
The findings hold novel insights on future success factors for human resource management but also invaluable contributions for the successful introduction of AI and digital humanities in modern democracies and societies.
Presentation at Austrian Embassy in the United States, Washington D.C., December 2018
Presentation at U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington D.C., April 2019
Conference presentation at Erdman Center of Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Collaboration with Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey, USA
‘Effective Altruism Global 2017’
Palace of Fine Arts, Innovation Hangar
San Francisco, California, USA
Financial and in-kind support of the Association for the Eugene Lang Liberal Arts College of The New School, European Parliament Research Division, Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Georgia State University, Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education, Janeway Center Fellowship, Monmouth University, Prize Fellowship of the Inter-University Consortium of New York, Routledge, The New School for Social Research New York (Dean’s List, Fee Board Scholarship, President’s Scholarship, The Parsons School of Design, The School for Public Engagement & Public Affairs), University of Vienna, and Vernon Art and Science is gratefully acknowledged.
Coverage:
Media: Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Panel ‘No time to think of what you don’t have: Digitalisation & AI in Europe,’ European Liberal Forum in cooperation with NEOS Lab, Billrothhaus, Vienna, Austria, European Union, November 16, 2021.
Upcoming: Artificial Intelligence Ethics Podcast second edition featuring Guest speakers on Artificial Intelligence Ethics in Medicine on behalf of the European Society of Medicine
Output:
Publications:
Books
Work-in-progress
Puaschunder, J.M. (under review). Human Rights Online.
Puaschunder, J.M. (under review). Digital inequality. Oxford University Press.
Puaschunder, J.M. & Schwarz, G. (under review). The future is now: How joint decision-making curbs hyperbolic discounting but blurs social responsibility in the intergenerational equity public policy domain.
Puaschunder, J.M. (under review). The future of medicine: Artificial Intelligence, algorithms, big data and robotics in healthcare.
Beerbaum, D., Ikäheimo, S. & Puaschunder, J.M. (forthcoming). A behavioral approach to voluntary change and innovation in external financial reporting: A case study of the restructuring of the Annual Report on Form 20-F and the Financial Report.
Puaschunder, J.M. (forthcoming). The future of resilient finance: The relation of cryptocurrencies and sustainability ethics. In W. Leal, Climate Change Policies: Science and Technology in Support of Policy-Making in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Springer Nature.
Beerbaum, D., Piechocki, M. & Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Measuring accounting reporting complexity with customized extensions XBRL: A behavioral economics approach. Journal of Applied Research in the Digital Economy, 1, 2-38.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Artificial Diplomacy: A guide for public officials to conduct Artificial Intelligence, Journal of Applied Research in the Digital Economy, 1, 39-54, translated by Run Wang into Chinese.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Big data ethics. Journal of Applied Research in the Digital Economy, 1, 55-75.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2017). The nudging divide in the digital big data era. International Journal of Research in Business, Economics and Management, 1, 3, 49-53. Coverage: The Living Library
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Artificial Intelligence Evolution: On the virtue of killing in the artificial age. Artificial Intelligence applications and innovations. Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applications and Innovations and 20th International Conference on Engineering Applications of Neural Networks at Crete, Greece, European Union, May 24-26.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2023). Agenda for Global Innovation and Digital Ethics (AGIDE), Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Big Data, Algorithms and Health Data. The New Austrian and Liberal Forum.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). On Artificial Intelligence Ethics. Austrian Consulate San Francisco.
Invited presentations:
Puaschunder, J.M. (upcoming). Business Breakfast Keynote address for the American Chamber of Commerce in Austria in the Hilton Vienna Plaza, Austria, European Union.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2022). Ökonomie der Diversität im Zeitalter der Unsicherheit [Economics of Diversity in the Age of Uncertainty]. Hostettler & Company 10th HCM Board Conference, Hotel Park Hyatt Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, November 8, 2022.
Invited Presentation on The Law, Economics and Governance of COVID-19 and its Long-Term Implications, European Society of Medicine General Assembly, Madrid, Spain, European Union, August 4-6, 2022.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Panel ‘No time to think of what you don’t have: Digitalisation & AI in Europe,’ European Liberal Forum in cooperation with NEOS Lab, Billrothhaus, Vienna, Austria, European Union, November 16, 2021.
Gelter, M. & Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). COVID-19 and Comparative Corporate Governance. Invited Comparative Private Law Lecture, Universität Innsbruck & Università degli Studi di Padova Scuola di Giurisprudenza, May 25, 2021.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). University of Ohio, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State Business Law Journal Symposium Confronting Crisis: Preparing for the Unexpected, Columbus, Ohio, United States, invited guest lecture, March 10.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Our world after COVID-19: Generation COVID Long Haulers and the economics of health, minimalism and rest. Invited presentation to the European Commission DG Health and Food Safety Unit C2 – Health information and integration in all policies, May 6, 2021.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Ethical Dilemmas Carthage Symposium, Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, Madison, United States, invited guest lecture, February 23.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). University of Pennsylvania Journal of Business Law Volume 23 Symposium, ‘Business Law Developments in the COVID Era’ invited panelist, February 6th.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Artificial Society, Economy and Democracy: Contemporary legal, economic and societal trends in the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics and big data insights. Harvard University, Cabot Division Room, Harvard Chemistry, Mallinckrodt Building, Cambridge, USA, March 4.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Künstliche Intelligenz und Gesundheitswesen. Josef Mantl Communications, Moving Forward: Shaping the Future, Le Méridien, Vienna, Austria, European Union, January 9.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Revising growth theory in the artificial age: Putty and clay labor. Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft Österreichs Austrian Economic Association (NOeG) Winter Workshop, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria, European Union, December 17-20.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Big data, algorithms, and health data, Study Report Launch, The New Austria and Liberal Forum, Vienna, Austria, European Union, November 12, 2019.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). On Artificial Intelligence’s razor’s edge: On the future of democracy and society in the artificial age.17th Finance, Risk and Accounting Perspectives Conference, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, European Union, September 23-25.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Dignity and utility of privacy and information sharing in the digital big data age, 17th Finance, Risk and Accounting Perspectives Conference, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, European Union, September 23-25.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance.17th Finance, Risk and Accounting Perspectives Conference, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, European Union, September 23-25.
Invited participant, Workshop on ‘Science, Technology and Economic Policy,’ National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine, invited by the Harvard Laboratory for Innovation Sciences at The Keck Center for the National Academies, Washington DC, USA, May 29, 2019.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Thinking out of the growth theory box: Putty and clay labor. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, May 2.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Artificial Intelligence Ethics. Diplomatic Academy of Austria, Vienna, Austria, European Union, April 23.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Dignity and utility of privacy and information sharing in the digital big data age. The Society of Government Economists 2019 Annual Conference, Janet Norwood Conference and Training Center, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, DC, USA, April 5.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Artificial Intelligence Ethics, Nominee, Austrian Research and Innovation Talks 2018, Embassy of Austria to the United States, International Court, Washington D.C., December 7.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2016). Globalization and geopolitics: The new economy is flat! Strategic Design and Management in New Economies, Guest Lecture, Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, NY, USA, September 27.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2015). Bowling all alone: Governmental debt is associated with low social capital, Cultures of Finance, The New School for Social Research, The New School, December 15.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2015). On financial social responsibility, Research colloquium, Sociology of Markets, Organizations, and Governance, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany, European Union, November 18, 2015.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2023). Prospect theory incentives in ‘pay for sustainability’ remuneration schemes. Scientia Moralitas conference. February 19, 2023.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2022). Human Rights Online: Towards a new generation of human rights in the virtual world. 3rd Unequal World Conference of the United Nations, United Nations New York, New York, United States, December 8, 2022.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Value of COVID-19: Digitalized healthcare, luxury consumption and global education. Association for Integrity and Responsible Leadership in Economics and Associated Professions (AIRLEAP) Sessions for the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Conference, March 17-19.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). The future of the city after COVID-19: Digitalization, preventionism, and environmentalism. Association for Integrity and Responsible Leadership in Economics and Associated Professions (AIRLEAP) Sessions for the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Conference, March 17-19.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2021). Access to affordable preventive medicine: Common Wealth in Common Health. 2nd Unequal World Conference of the United Nations, United Nations New York, New York, United States, January 24-25.
Puaschunder, J.M., Gelter, M. & Mörtl, D. (2021). Inequality in COVID-19: Legal, economic, trade and governance aspects.2nd Unequal World Conference of the United Nations, United Nations New York, New York, United States, January 24-25.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Value at COVID-19:Digitalized Healthcare, Luxury Consumption and Global Education. ConScienS conference on Science & Society: Pandemics and their impact on society, September 6-7.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). The future of the city after COVID-19: Digitionalization, Preventism and Environmentalism.ConScienS conference on Science & Society: Pandemics and their impact on society, September 6-7.
Beerbaum, D., Ikäheimo, S. & Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Behavioral approaches to voluntary change and innovation in external financial reporting: A case study of the restructuring of the Annual Report on Form 20-F and the financial report.43rd European Accounting Association Conference, Bucharest, Romania, European Union, May 27-29.
Puaschunder, J.M., Beerbaum, D. & Ikäheimo, S. (2020). Digital accounting trends of the future: A behavioral analysis.43rd European Accounting Association Conference, Bucharest, Romania, European Union, May 27-29.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Revising growth theory in the Artificial Age: Putty and clay labor.46th Eastern Economic Association Conference, Boston Sheraton, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, February 29.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2020). Data fiduciary in order to alleviate principal-agent problems in the artificial big data age, 46th Eastern Economic Association Conference, Boston Sheraton, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, February 29.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. World Finance Conference & World Finance Banking Symposium, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, December 19-21.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Revising growth theory in the artificial age: Putty and clay labor. Nationalökonomische Gesellschaft Österreichs Winter Workshop, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria, European Union, December 17-20.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. 17th Finance, Risk and Accounting Perspectives Conference, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, European Union, September 23-25.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Artificial Intelligence: On the virtue of killing in the artificial age. IOP 4.0, Ahead of Our Time: Meaningful and Connected Life: Ethics, Human, Machine, Interface: Reinventing the World at Work: Reactive…Proactiveness, Pretoria, South Africa, The 21st Annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa, July 22-26.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). On artificial intelligence’s razor’s edge: On the future of democracy and society in the artificial age, IOP 4.0, Ahead of Our Time: Meaningful and Connected Life: Ethics, Human, Machine, Interface: Reinventing the World at Work: Reactive…Proactiveness, Pretoria, South Africa, The 21st Annual Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa, July 22-26.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). An inquiry into the nature and causes of Climate Wealth of Nations: What temperature finance gravitates towards? Sketching a climate-finance nexus and outlook on climate change-induced finance prospects, 10th International Research Meeting in Business and Management (IRMBAM-2019), July 8-10, Nice, France, European Union.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an Empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. Finance and Society panel, Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), The New School, New York City, United States, June 28.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Artificial intelligence ethics. Big Data, Algorithms, and Health Data, The New Austria and Liberal Forum Science Lab, Vienna, Austria, European Union, June 24.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. International Council for Small Business World Congress, Cairo, Egypt, Africa, June 19.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back:Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance.NeuroPsychoEconomics Conference, LUISS University, Rome, Italy, June 7.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2019). Value at looking back: Towards an empirical validation of the role of reflexivity in econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. 45th Annual Eastern Economic Association Conference, New York Sheraton, New York, New York, United States, March 3.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Towards a utility theory of privacy and information sharing, Austrian Economic Association Winter Workshop, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria, Europe, December 18-20.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Towards a utility theory of privacy and information sharing and the introduction of hyper-hyperbolic discounting in the digital big data age. Ethical Issues for the Economics Profession. 88th Annual Meeting of the Southern Economic Association, Marriott Marquis Washington, Washington D.C., USA, November 20.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Towards a utility theory of privacy and information sharing and the introduction of hyper-hyperbolic discounting in the digital big data age. International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference, Ethics in the Digital Age Session, Marriott Downtown New York, New York, United States, October 27.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Towards a utility theory of privacy and information sharing and the introduction of hyper-hyperbolic discounting in the digital big data age. The 11th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Behavioral Finance & Economics, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, United States, October 19.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Econo-historic backtesting: Economic market prediction corrections correlate with future market performance. 86th International Atlantic Economic Conference, Westin Times Square Hotel New York, New York, United States, October 12. [International Atlantic Economic Society’s Best Undergraduate Paper Award Competition Judge]
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Towards a utility theory of privacy and information sharing and the introduction of hyper-hyperbolic discounting in the digital big data age. 2018 Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Annual Conference, Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, Canada, June 26-30.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Nudgitize me! A behavioral finance approach to minimize losses and maximize profits from heuristics and biases. 2018 International Council for Small Business World Congress, Reshaping the world through innovative SMEs, Taipei, Taiwan, Asia, June 26-29.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Trust and reciprocity drive social common goods contribution norms. 14th NeuroPsychoEconomics Conference, Zurich, Switzerland, European Union, May 25.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). Nudgital: Critique of Behavioral Political Economy. Economics and Behavior Panel, Eastern Economic Association Annual Conference, Boston Sheraton, Boston, MA, United States, March 4.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2018). ‘Nudging.’ Reformatting the world: An interdisciplinary conference on technology and the humanities. Vanier College, York University, Toronto, Canada, February 23.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2017). Nudgitize me! A behavioral finance approach to minimize losses and maximize profits from heuristics and biases. Academy of Behavioral Finance & Economics, 2017 Annual Meeting, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA, October 19.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2017). Nudgital: Critique of Behavioral Political Economy. Behavioral Economics, The New School for Social Research, March 30.
Puaschunder, J.M. (2016). Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) as an International Platform for Cross-Sectoral Solution Finding and Policy Dialogue on Information and Communication Technologies for Development. 4th Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development hosted by the Earth Institute and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Alfred Lerner Hall, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA, September 22.