In an article for HIGGS, Lefteris Chelioudakis, Executive Director of Homo Digitalis, examines two phenomena that, he argues, are deeply reshaping relations between citizens, states and private companies. The first is the attention economy, the second is algorithmic governance.
Attention as a commodity
According to the author, digital platforms are not only after our data. What they ultimately compete for is our time and our behaviour. Notifications, endless scrolling and personalised recommendations are part of a system that predicts and maximises our engagement for commercial ends.
Large language models take this logic into a new phase. In conversations with chatbots, users often share thoughts, dilemmas and emotions they would not confide even to people close to them. Platforms no longer need to guess what we think, because we often tell them ourselves. In the author’s view, technology is thus moving from predicting behaviour to shaping it. The issue goes beyond data protection and touches human autonomy itself. He cites the Cambridge Analytica case as an example.
When algorithms decide
Algorithms now decide which news and job ads we see and who is considered trustworthy. Public authorities increasingly use them as well, in areas such as policing and migration. Drawing on Melvin Kranzberg and Neil Postman, the author recalls that technology is not neutral: it embeds values and power relations and changes the environment we live in.
He sees the greatest risk in the gradual normalisation of surveillance. Each new system may seem reasonable on its own, but together they can shift the boundaries of freedom. His conclusion is that we do not need to halt technological progress. We need to make sure the rule of law and fundamental rights stay at the centre. The key question, he argues, is not whether algorithms work efficiently, but what kind of world they are leading us to.
Read the full article (in Greek) on HIGGS