Artificial Idiocy | Elke Schwarz

In this lecture, political theorist Elke Schwarz examines the growing entanglement of artificial intelligence and global militarism. As spending on AI and defence reaches unprecedented highs, she argues that a new “tech-fetishism” is reshaping how war is imagined, financed, and justified.

From venture-backed defence startups to calls for a “Manhattan Project-style” AI initiative, war is increasingly framed as a software problem: one solvable through automation, optimisation, and autonomous weapons systems. Yet despite promises of precision and restraint, AI systems remain unreliable in the "messy business of war", and there is a critical lack in oversight and accountability.

Drawing on the ancient meaning of the word “idiot” - someone withdrawn from public life - Schwarz warns that artificial intelligence risks enrolling us into “artificial idiocy”. This political condition is marked by diminished public-mindedness, eroded collective agency, and the normalisation of cruelty. The coming transformation, she suggests, is not only technological, but ethical and political.