The Algorithmic City

This is an open access title. It is available to read and download as a free PDF version on Oxford Academic and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International license.In The Algorithmic City, Seth Lazar argues that Artificial Intelligence and other computing technologies have transformed the conditions under which we live together, while political philosophy has barely taken notice. To remedy this, he introduces and theorises the "Algorithmic City," the network of algorithmically-mediated social relations constituted by platforms, recommender systems, and emerging AI agents, among others. Lazar illustrates how AI-enabled tools govern this "Algorithmic City" and identifies the standards by which that novel governing power can be justified, focusing on what it is used to do, who exercises it, and how. He argues political philosophy's account of each of these standards must be updated to cater for the distinctive combination of structural and agential power that algorithmic intermediaries realise. He then applies this approach to a concrete corner of the Algorithmic City: the digital public sphere. He offers foundational, regulatory, and technical interventions that could enable justified algorithmic governance of the distribution of online attention. Based on the 2023 Stanford Tanner Lecture on AI and Human Values, The Algorithmic City consists of two essays by Lazar followed by commentaries from Renée Jørgensen, Marion Fourcade, Joshua Cohen, and Arvind Narayanan, and concludes with Lazar's reply.