Predictive politics: Michael Carl on digitisation in politics
For digitisation will significantly change our living and working worlds in the coming years – and this will also have an impact on future political decisions. With a view to the consequences for certain industries, Michael Carl consults numerous companies and as a valued keynote speaker talks about such consequences in his presentations. One of his focal points is Predictive Politics, i.e. the use of artificial intelligence in politics.
In Germany, however, we are still leagues away from IE. In this context, Michael Carl considers the present situation to be a regional handicap. As one of the two managing directors of Germany’s leading future institute, the 2b AHEAD ThinkTank, he is well aware that: To be able to use the opportunities the digital world has to offer, you need much more than the comprehensive provision of fast internet services. The nationwide expansion of broadband internet is nothing but a measure to compensate for the failures of the past years.
This was also proven true by the US presidential election where – for the first time ever – Big Data was used to address the voters in social networks with individually tailored reports. In the opinion of the fascinating speaker Michael Carl, though, smart voter profiling based on a wealth of data is only the beginning. In the future, artificial intelligence will be applied in political decision-making as well and will become a helpful tool for the work in parliaments, ministries and committees. „In the near future already, we expect to see artificial intelligence monitoring common decisions in the Federal Chancellery and in ministries. Hence, the efficiency of their own algorithm is going to become the quality characteristic for politicians”, predicts Michael Carl. As a result, scenarios can be simulated to determine the effects of political actions on the future. Thus, the individual needs initially triggered in the population by today’s political actions will become the benchmark for the decision. „This digital leap is the call of duty of a future digital minister. Should politics refuse to take this leap, a dissociation from the social development will be the outcome “, says Carl.
For the coalition negotiations, futurologist Michael Carl hopes that all involved will become aware of the vital role digitisation plays and make it one of the key challenges of the upcoming legislative term.