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This chapter analyzes ML power as power to and power over, contrasting networked and cultural perspectives on power to. It then develops four dimensions of ML power over: opaque coercion, computational authority, structural conditioning, and data-driven governmentality.","PREPRINT VERSION  \nAiroldi, M. (2023) . Computational Authority in Platform Society: Dimensions of Power in Machine Learning. In C. Borch, J.P. Pardo-Guerra (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Machine Learning. [https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197653609.013.40](https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197653609.013.40)  \nComputational Authority in Platform Society: Dimensions of  \nPower in Machine Learning  \nMassimo Airoldi, Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan  \nAbstract  \nA growing body of literature maintains that AI and machine learning (ML) technologies have—or exert—some kind of power: power to act in ways that do not mechanically reflect developers’ intentions and values, as well as power over the individuals, social groups, and cultural manifestations subjected to automated predictions and classifications. This chapter aims to dissect the notion of ML power, intended both as power to and power over. First, two complementary scholarly perspectives on ML power to, here labeled “networked” and“cultural” views, are presented and critically discussed. Second, drawing on both classic and contemporary social theories, the chapter outlines four main dimensions of ML power over—as opaque coercion, computational authority, structural conditioning, and data-driven governmentality.  \nKeywords  \npower, machine learning, AI, artificial intelligence, nonhuman agency, post-human social theory, computational authority  \nIntroduction  \nFor a long time social theory has been concerned with defining power relations . . . but it has always found it difficult to see how domination is achieved. . . . In order to understand domination we have to turn away from an exclusive concern with social relations and weave them into a fabric that includes non-human actants, actants that offer the possibility of holding society together as a durable whole. (Latour, 1991, p. 103)  \nPower—with its forms, mechanisms, and multiple dimensions—represents one of the major concerns, if not the obsession, of modern sociology. Two main views of the concept, as power to—that is, the transformative capacity of power—and power over—that is, power as domination over others—point to a complex ramification of contrasting theories that continue to animate debates in the social sciences (Haugaard, 2020; Pansardi, 2012) .  \nSocial theory sees power essentially as a human “thing”(Latour, 1991) . Until recently, only limited scholarly attention was devoted to understanding how power relations are sedimented in and affirmed through technology and material artifacts, in subfields like science and technology studies and actor-network theory (Law, 1991) . Something changed at the beginning of the 2000s, when a new breed of nonhuman actants started to be pervasively embedded into the fabric of society. Computer algorithms and basic AI systems were applied to a number of professional fields for some decades already—for example, in financial markets (Pardo-Guerra, 2010) . Yet it is only with the development of the Internet and, later, of social media platforms and mobile apps that unprecedented opportunities for profitably automating information processing through the extraction of“big” digital data emerged (Zuboff, 2019; van Dijck et al., 2018) . Automated systems such as spam filters, recommender algorithms, search engines, online bots, dynamic pricing, and machine translation models began to populate digital infrastructure and, therefore, to affect our everyday lives as well as culture and society more broadly. As a result, novel theorizations of the shifting relationship between information technologies, power, and society made their appearance in social science journals, giving rise to new and highly multidisciplinary fields of research, such as critical algorithm studies and critical data studies. Lately, rapid advancements in AI research and an increased media coverage of the mythicized successes, blatant failures, and dystopian applic","cbCainMgZy2WYk7R","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainMgZy2WYk7R","pdf",337739,1,18,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Power as power to and power over\n## Technology, nonhuman actants, and platform infrastructures","[{\"question\":\"How does the chapter define ML power to and ML power over?\",\"answer\":\"It treats ML power both as power to (transformative capacity) and as power over (domination). It analyzes how each perspective helps explain different mechanisms of influence.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the two complementary scholarly perspectives on ML power to discussed in the chapter?\",\"answer\":\"They are labeled the “networked” view and the “cultural” view, and the chapter critically discusses how they each interpret power to.\"},{\"question\":\"What four dimensions of ML power over does the chapter propose?\",\"answer\":\"The chapter outlines opaque coercion, computational authority, structural conditioning, and data-driven governmentality.\"}]","Computational Authority in Platform Society - Dimensions of Power in Machine Learning | PDF",1785676513,45,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"computational-authority-in-platform-society-dimensions-of-power-in-machine-learning","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,54,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/computational-authority-in-platform-society-dimensions-of-power-in-machine-learning/117516/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"How does the chapter define ML power to and ML power over?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"It treats ML power both as power to (transformative capacity) and as power over (domination). It analyzes how each perspective helps explain different mechanisms of influence.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"What are the two complementary scholarly perspectives on ML power to discussed in the chapter?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"They are labeled the “networked” view and the “cultural” view, and the chapter critically discusses how they each interpret power to.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What four dimensions of ML power over does the chapter propose?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"The chapter outlines opaque coercion, computational authority, structural conditioning, and data-driven governmentality.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]