Proponents of automation say the developments will create a more efficient and advanced society, but there are concerns that the changes will not affect all citizens equally.

According to Virginia Eubanks, the automation of social and welfare services in the United States is creating a “digital poorhouse,” deepening class divides and diverting poor and working-class people from accessing public resources.

Eubanks joined the podcast to discuss her new book Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. She is an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, SUNY.

This podcast is part of the special feature Ethical and Social Dimensions of AI.

Photo: Members of the National Welfare Rights Organization marching to end hunger in Washington, DC in 1968. Photo from the Jack Rottier Collection.

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