Presently, we are witnessing an intense debate about technological advancements in artificial intelligence
(AI) research and its deployment in various societal domains and contexts. In this context, media and
communications is one of the most prominent and contested fields. Bots, voice assistants, automated (fake)
news generation, content moderation and filtering – all of these are examples of how AI and machine
learning are transforming the dynamics and order of digital communication.On 20 March 2018 the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society together with the nongovernmental organisation Access Now hosted the one-day expert workshop “The turn to AI in governing
communication online”. International experts from academia, politics, civil society and business gathered in
Berlin to discuss the complex socio-technical questions and issues concerning subjects such as artificial
intelligence technologies, machine learning systems, the extent of their deployment in content moderation
and the range of approaches to understanding the status and future impact of AI systems for governing
social communication on the internet.This workshop report summarises and documents the authors’ main takeaways from the discussions. The
discussions, comments and questions raised and responses from experts also fed into the report. The report
has been distributed among workshop participants. It is intended to contribute current perspectives to the
discourse on AI and the governance of communication.
