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- ItemIDLEWiSE. A Project Concept for AI-Assisted Energy Efficiency in HPC Clusters(Weizenbaum Institute, 2025-03-10) Bassini, Chiara Fusar; Hackel, Leonard; Kirschbaum, ThorrenThe growing energy demand for high-performance computing (HPC) systems raises severe concerns about their environmental impact. Novel system paradigms and computational schemes are needed to limit energy consumption while ensuring the efficiency and availability of computing resources. In this contribution, we introduce a concept for an Intelligent Decision Tool for Lowering Energy Waste in System Efficiency (IDLEWiSE), which aims to decrease the energy consumption of HPC clusters operating below total capacity by selectively shutting down idle computational units. This paper outlines an optimization tool using efficient machine-learning algorithms like decision trees to learn optimal shutdown policies online. We further locate our approach in the context of existing energy-economizing instruments and perform a strategic analysis and stepwise validation of the proposed concept. The study also includes qualitative anonymized findings from a survey of German scientific HPC cluster administrators, corroborating the urgent need for energy-efficient tools and practices for practitioners.
- ItemThe Digipolitical and African Political Thought: A Theoretical Framework for Interpreting the Political in the Digital Age(Weizenbaum Institute, 2025-01-16) Favarato, ClaudiaToday, digitality is pervasive across all spheres of human social and political life. To inquire into digital-engendered ontologies, this paper presents a theoretical framework undergirding African political thought for the study of the political sphere in digitality, or the digipolitical. This neologism refers to the political as an ontological category redefined via its intersection with the digital. This understanding rests on three premises: the characteristics of the digital, a sui generis virtual reality; the algorithmic architecture of the cyber socio-political space; and the onto-relational nature of the political subjects, which entails the interplay of the analogue with digital-humans. Regarding more recent disciplines and theories, such as posthumanism, this paper brings to the fore insights offered by African political thought, which has long emphasized reading individuals, communities, and structures of power through the lens of the political centered on the concept of relationality. I defend the assertion that the relational approach inscribed in African political philosophies offers valuable insight into digital political onto-relationalities, as it discloses power from in-between spaces and details its dynamics.
- ItemTrapped in the Matrix: Algorithmic Control and Worker Dispossession in the African Platform Economy(Weizenbaum Institute, 2024-12-11) Dinika, Adio-Adet TichafaraDigital labor platforms are reshaping the work landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, promising enhanced productivity and empowerment. Yet, this study reveals a more complex reality, particularly in Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Based on 41 in-depth interviews, it exposes how algorithmic management systems deeply erode worker autonomy, highlighting significant financial, task, and behavioral dispossession. This research, grounded in neo-Marxist and postcolonial theories, scrutinizes the nuanced limitations of autonomy and the pervasive control exerted by algorithmic management, reflecting the lived experiences of workers. The findings illuminate enduring patterns of accumulation that echo historical exploitation, maintaining asymmetric power dynamics and dependence. Despite this, the study captures the agency of workers as they navigate and resist these systemic constraints, challenging the dominant techno-optimistic narrative. It underscores the critical need for contextually informed empirical research to shape policies that champion equity and elevate marginalized voices during transformative economic shifts.
- ItemGenerative AI and the Ethical Risks Associated with Human-Computer Symbiosis(Weizenbaum Institute, 2024-12-05) Stockman, CarolineThis article critically examines digital technology through the lens of existential philosophy concerned with human-technology interaction. One such philosophy is human-technology symbiosis (or man-computer symbiosis, in J.C.R. Licklider’s terminology). A similar view appears in Douglas Engelbart’s work on the augmentation of human intelligence. These ideas form the framework for this paper’s analysis. The early computing scientists considered technical progress with deep care for the future of human creativity and human intelligence. They set a course for a new future of human-computer interaction that would take the form of a partnership or a team. Their values continue to play powerfully into digital culture today. The ethical concerns for cybernetics voiced by Norbert Wiener further enrich the critical positioning in this paper. Using this theoretical framework, the analysis will show that generative artificial intelligence is philosophically congruent with the idea of symbiotic human-technology interaction. Microsoft’s Copilot will serve as a concrete illustration. However, certain aspects of human interactions with generative artificial intelligence may pose ethical concerns, particularly related to personal and social responsibility, the nature of knowledge, and the value placed on the human element. This renews the importance of rigorous governance systems and education.