Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group Ltd), an international academic publisher, has published a book by Dr. Ignas Kalpokas and Dr. Julija Kalpokienė, who are researchers at the V. Kavolis Transdisciplinary Research Institute at Vytautas Magnus University. The open access book “Societies at an AI Crossroads: Choices and Value Conflicts” examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and related digital technologies are changing modern societies, and the value dilemmas arising from these technological changes.
According to the authors, a one-dimensional vision of “inevitable progress” is increasingly gaining ground in the public sphere. This view perceives technological development as a natural and inherently positive process. The authors offer an alternative view, inviting us to consider AI development as a series of crossroads at which societies must actively choose the future they desire, rather than passively adapting to it. “AI is always a decision — it is important not to give in to inertia and to recognise the possible choices,” says one of the book’s authors, Dr. Ignas Kalpokas.
The book analyses various future scenarios in fields such as education, creativity, cultural heritage, work, war, the limits of the human body and technology, and even space colonisation. In each area, it discusses the prevailing, largely ‘progressive’ interpretations of the future alongside critical alternatives, enabling us to identify solutions often obscured by the rhetoric of “inevitability”. The authors emphasise that these crossroads involve not only technical and economic factors, but also moral and social choices: between efficiency and the protection of social diversity; between turning technological possibilities into imperatives and assessing their desirability; and between moral blindness and concern. The book also discusses how decisions in these areas depend on deeply rooted ideological, political, economic and value-based assumptions that often remain invisible.
This book is not only relevant to the academic community, but also to policymakers and other groups in society involved in discussions about the regulation of AI. It encourages us to recognise that the future is not predetermined by technology; rather, it is shaped by the value-based decisions we make today.
This book forms part of the “Strengthening Research and Development Activities at the Vytautas Kavolis Transdisciplinary Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities (SOCMTEP)” project. It is funded by the Lithuanian Research Council and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania (agreement no. S-A-UEI-23-13, 27 December 2023).
You can read the open access book here.
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