SUBJECT SOVEREIGNTY IN TIMES OF ALGORITHMIC CONTROL

Abstract

This article analyzes the implications of artificial intelligence for the notion of subject sovereignty, problematizing the ways in which algorithmic devices affect contemporary subjectivation processes. Based on Deleuze's diagnosis of the transition from disciplinary societies to control societies, we examine the concept of algorithmic governmentality and its relations with the production of subjectivity. We also analyze emotional AI systems and dark patterns in light of the concept of psychopolitics, questioning the notion of subject sovereignty in face of behavioral modulation devices. We argue that sovereignty cannot be thought of as an individual attribute to be protected, but as an effect of sociotechnical arrangements to be collectively disputed.