Stellenangebot: Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (PHD, 75%), Multilevel Governance of AI, Center for Innovation Systems & Policy in Vienna

Stellenangebot: Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in (PHD, 75%), Center for Innovation Systems & Policy in Vienna

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are an essential factor for the digital transformation. Current discussions focus on opportunities, but also dangers of AI, for example regarding the protection of privacy and personal rights, against bias and discrimination or the establishment of transparency and accountability. In the EU, a decision on a legal regulation of AI is expected for 2023. This will be implemented by the individual member states in the next few years and will lead to extensive tasks regarding ethics and the assessment of risks posed by AI. This gives rise to several questions on the governance of AI: Which actors, strategies, processes, and proposed solutions to AI ethics are observable at the European level and the national level respectively? How do research organisations react to the debates on AI ethics, for example through new bodies, guidelines, and processes? How do all these changes in the governance of AI ethics affect the work of software developers? How do developers implement the new rules in their practical work?

Tasks:

• The dissertation will trace the outcomes of the policy process at the EU level, with the empirical work focusing on the national and organisational levels. The case studies at the national level will be Austria and at the level of research organisations the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology.
• You will be part of and engage in all activities of the research field Innovation Policy and Transformation.
• You will work on the two projects “Hybris” and “Reinforcing”, which are closely related to the dissertation topic. In the national project Hybris, AI ethics principles will be put into practice in a cooperation between data scientists, social scientists, and legal scholars.
• The EU-financed project Reinforcing focuses on the topic of responsibility in research and innovation. Amongst other things, findings from other projects will be summarised and a global network on topics such as ethics, public participation, gender, and sustainability in research will be established.
• Your tasks will include work on all parts of the projects, such as planning meetings, conducting interviews, document analyses and internet research, cooperating with international project partners, working on project reports, writing publications, and presenting own work at conferences.
• In both projects, you will work closely with the head of the AIT AI Ethics Lab, PD Dr. Peter Biegelbauer, and other AIT staff.

• Our AIT-PhD Programme, conducted in cooperation with national or international universities, offers you the opportunity to write your PhD thesis in collaboration with researchers from the Center for Innovation Systems & Policy and our national and international partners.
• You will gain experience in a group of international scientists and build up your professional network.
• You will gain experience in scientific publications and present your work to the international scientific community, but also to the policy community debating potentials for AI ethics.