#rp26 speaker Rainer Mühlhoff: AI and the new fascism

Trump’s second inauguration highlighted a worrying trend of recent years: during the swearing-in ceremony, the most prominent tech executives were seated in the front row, amounting to an unprecedented display of power. Furthermore, the right-wing Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk went viral at one of the celebrations for making a gesture that was clearly recognisable as a Nazi salute.

Many describe what happened in the days that followed as a digital coup: under Musk’s leadership, the newly created Department of Government Efficiency began to take over the US administrative apparatus – using “a combination of surprise, intimidation and hacker tactics”, as Rainer Mühlhoff writes.

At re:publica 26, the philosophy professor will present his new book, “AI and the New Fascism” – and discuss why we must exercise democratic control over the AI industry. This is because the far-right ideas of the tech bros offer promises of salvation, even though they legitimise exploitation and hierarchies.
Whether it’s support for the AfD’s election campaign or the establishment of a network of allies within the US government: how has it come about that Big Tech is suddenly embracing fascist ideologies and seeking to use artificial intelligence as an infrastructure for state power – on a global scale? How do we ensure that apocalyptic AI scenarios or the hope that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will emerge do not distract us from the real harm this technology is causing right now?

Rainer Mühlhoff is Professor of Ethics and Critical Theories of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Osnabrück and an associate member of the Einstein Center Digital Future and the Charité in Berlin. He investigates the relationship between AI and power, which gives rise to new forms of exploitation, social inequality and the rise of authoritarian political styles. His most recent publications include “AI and the New Fascism” (2025), which won the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Book Prize, as well as “The Ethics of AI” and, in 2023, “Die Macht der Daten: Warum künstliche Intelligenz eine Frage der Ethik ist” (The Power of Data: Why Artificial Intelligence is a Question of Ethics).