A box of books with the title "The AI Matrix"

Daniel Mügge holding and pointing to a copy of "The AI Matrix"

It has arrived! The #AI Matrix, on paper and IRL 🤩 Digital was nice, but the analogue me likes this even better 😎

Want your own copy? It's available here: www.agendapub.com/page/detail/... On paper, but also open access!

Thanks again to Vali Stan and Regine Paul for the amazing collaboration 🚀

Waag | Verantwoorde en duurzame digitalisering in plaats van nauwe AI focus De AI-economie moet in dienst staan van de Nederlandse maatschappij, niet andersom. Marleen Stikker, Roel Dobbe en Daniel Mügge leggen uit hoe en geven speerpunten voor de formatie.

Nederland staat voor een fundamentele keuze in digitaal beleid: AI als doel op zich of ten dienste van samenleving. Oproep van Roel Dobbe, Daniel Mügge en Marleen Stikker waag.org/nl/article/v...

The AI Matrix | Columbia University Press Artificial intelligence (AI) is heralded as a revolutionary force in the global economy. But the transformation it brings is not simply about new technology ... | CUP

In the US or Canada, you can order the paper version here: cup.columbia.edu/book/the-ai-... End of month treat: on 30 November everything on the Columbia UP site is half price, including our book 😎

6️⃣ AI debates suffer from serious oversimplification: “AI” is not all the same. Generative AI is very different from computer vision, and AI-powered robotics differs from weather prediction. The PE effects differ, too – not all have the “winner takes all”-tendencies that we observe in GenAI.

5️⃣ Everyone talks about the US, China, maybe Europe and East Asia. Where are the other 6 billion people on the planet in conversations about AI politics? They, too, are implicated in what’s happening – whether as miners of essential minerals, remote click-workers or objects of AI imperial ambitions.

4️⃣ AI’s main effect on labour markets – at least for now – may not be that it’s killing all jobs. But that it’s dumbing them down, creating alienation and frustration.

3️⃣ AI may be good for GDP headline figures – but that doesn’t mean it makes most, or even many, people better off.

2️⃣ Even once AI has been developed, what happens next depends on political choices and institutions. “The AI transformation” can and should be politically shaped and steered.

A few core arguments:

1️⃣ From the get-go, governments and their political priorities have been implicated in how, where, and to what ends tech is developed. AI has been no different.

Book cover of "The AI Matrix" by Daniel Mügge, Regine Paul and Vali Stan, showing a world map, hands grabbing Dollar bills, a robot arm and interconnected cables

Regine Paul, Vali Stan and I have analysed how deeply #AI is entangled in global politics and corporate profit-hunting. “The AI Matrix” is the result – and the digital book-version is open access: www.agendapub.com/page/detail/... (Link doesn't work? Try this one: www.regulaite.eu/images/pdf/M...)

The front and back cover of this week's New Yorker. Says the BofA ad on the back: "You didn't come this far just to come this far." Just what the front cover dude cozily tucked away under the $-bill was thinking before he dozed off. A bit of cognitive dissonance, seeing them next to each other...

Opinie | AI zou een politieke topprioriteit moeten zijn Digitalisering en AI veranderen de samenleving ingrijpend. Nederland heeft dringend een strategisch AI-beleid nodig voor autonomie en veiligheid.

"Waar blijft het Ministerie voor Digitale Zaken om de regie over tech in de samenleving terug te pakken?" vragen @marleenstikker.bsky.social en ik in NRC. #AI raakt zo ongeveer alle facetten van de samenleving. Uitermate slecht idee dus om het aan Big Tech over te laten.

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

What's the state of play around #AI sovereignty in Latin America? Natan Amado picks it apart in this RegulAite working paper. Spoiler alert: without push-back, AI dependency will only entrench LA's peripheral position in the global economy. www.regulaite.eu/images/pdf/A...

A deeply personal deep dive into #AI & politics with the Ivory Tower podcast. 🙏 to Tadey Luka Sadovyi for being such a gracious and erudite host 😃 Here's the Spotify link:

open.spotify.com/episode/7f5n...

AI & Innovation: The Good, the Useless – and the Ugly | TechPolicy.Press As Europe considers its options to achieve digital sovereignty, it is time for a sober assessment of the prevailing innovation narrative, writes Daniel Mügge.

As Europe considers its options to achieve digital sovereignty, it is time for a sober assessment of the prevailing innovation narrative, writes Daniel Mügge.

Vacancy — Postdoc Political Masculinities and Young Voters The Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join the Dutch Research Council (NWO-VICI) project ‘Political Masculinities in Euro...

📢 Postdoc job alert 'Politcal Masculinities and Young Voters.

The position is part of my NWO-VICI-project Political Masculinities in Europe . Please, share with potentially interested candidates with survey skills and expertise in quantitative methods.

werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

The EU AI Policy Pivot: Adaptation or Capitulation? | TechPolicy.Press Daniel Mügge and Leevi Saari ask, "What are we to make of the EU's AI policy pivot?"

A year ago, Brussels uncorked champagne after the #AI Act adoption. Now, the "regulatory superpower"-story is dead; it's all about "AI competitiveness". @leevisaari.bsky.social and I ask: is this bowing to US pressure, or does the EU finally step up to the plate? www.techpolicy.press/the-eu-ai-po...

Gender vote share gap among young Germans. Massive.

Among women, the left, greens and social democrats have a comfortable majority; among men, AfD, CDU/CSU and FDP score 50%.

Thanks to @lizamugge.bsky.social for pointing me to this; the German original is here: www.tagesschau.de/wahl/archiv/...

Losing the AI race may be a blessing In the AI race, the gap between Europe and the United States was big already. And with a shot of Trump doping into the arm of Big Tech, it has only grown.

Maybe the EU losing the AI race against US tech on Trump steroids is good news?

www.linkedin.com/pulse/losing...

How do Trump's policies shape AI in Europe? | Daniel Mügge | University of Amsterdam YouTube video by UvA - Social Sciences & Behaviour

With the US #AI executive order rescinded on Day One of Trump's 2nd act, here's my take on the divergence of American and European visions for AI - and the need for the EU boldly to chart its own course. youtu.be/vgTvtVxw7wM?...

Daniel Mügge on LinkedIn: Time to resist invasive digitization All around, digital tech is embraced as the midwife for human progress. But often, its relentless expansion into all domains of life erodes real human…

Why it's time to resist invasive digitization...
www.linkedin.com/posts/daniel...

We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Anduril’s vision for war We’re living through the first drone wars, but AI is poised to change the future of warfare even more drastically.

For better or worse, a realistic take on #AI in military affairs: connecting dots, and fast. With this, EU's vulnerability - defense split along borders - becomes only more acute. For independence from foreign tech, genuine integration is the only option. www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/10/1...

The Trump win and its lesson for EU tech policy Trump’s win not only reminds Europe that it must be able to stand on its own feet in digital tech. It also illustrates the collateral damage unguided digitalisation can do to societies, writes Daniel ...

In the meantime, some things I found interesting:
@dmugge.bsky.social writes about lessons from Trump's win for EU's digital transformation: "If Europe wants digitalisation to bring genuine societal progress, the lodestar should not be a competitive race with the US" www.euractiv.com/section/tech...

A better lodestar for EU AI sovereignty “AI made in Europe” has been the lodestar of EU AI policy since 2018. Six years later, US companies’ grip on everything digital in the EU has only tightened

The #EU "digital sovereignty" push concentrates too much on beating US Big Tech at its own game. Instead, it must harness digital technologies for social progress much more forcefully - w/foreign companies where possible; with its own #Eurostack where necessary.
www.hertie-school.org/en/digital-g...

What does Trump win mean for #EU tech policy?

It not only turns digital sovereignty into a live issue. But also: the EU should rethink whether USA really is the digitization-example to follow. (Spoiler: it's not...)

(Article posted on LinkedIn; sorry for out-link.) www.linkedin.com/posts/daniel...

Outsourcing Empire: International Monetary Power in the Age of Offshore Finance Abstract. Offshore finance allows foreign banks to create US dollars under the laws of an offshore jurisdiction. How and why does this affect international

New paper out with International Studies Quarterly 🎉

Outsourcing Empire: International Monetary Power in the Age of Offshore Finance.

#openaccess #polsky #politicsofmoney

academic.oup.com/isq/article/...

Research article entitled ""Politics without Presence? The Symbolic Representation of Trans People in Germany and the Netherlands"" by Anne Louise Schotel and Liza Mügge.

📣 Out on #FirstView 📣

In ""Politics without Presence?"" Anne Louise Schotel & @lizamugge.bsky.social pair qualitative text analysis with in depth interviews to understand trans symbolic representation in 🇩🇪 & 🇳🇱.

Available 🌟 #OpenAccess 🌟

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

What is the point of “AI made in Europe”? The EU has announced plans to make Europe a hub for artificial intelligence (AI). Daniel Mügge writes that while this sounds like a noble cause, the EU’s strategy is limited by its focus on enhanci…

What's the point of "AI made in Europe", a key plank of the EU's digital sovereignty agenda? It could be used to extract the EU from a delirious "AI race" - or to try to get ahead in it. What does EU strategy itself have to say? My two cents in the LSE Europe blog 👇
blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

Digital sovereignty is a big thing in Brussels - also in #AI. But what are the politics behind the "EU AI sovereignty" ambition? Who needs it, and why? For the Journal of European Public Policy, I've dissected 6 yrs of Commission strategy to find out. Now OA here:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....