Digitalisation must only be a tool – for the benefit of people

“Switzerland is lagging behind other countries when it comes to digitalisation,” was recently reported in the daily press. The reasons cited by the author include “federalism, conservatism and a lack of technology-savvy officials in governments and parliaments”.¹ However, no mention is made of the direct democratic decision-making rights of citizens, the majority of whom have a natural defence reflex against being digitally penetrated and managed. The fact that the increasingly seamless digitalisation of our lives is primarily about business is, of course, not a topic in Thomas Reitzke’s guest commentary. This is because he is Managing Director at the global IT group T-Systems, one of the “leading service providers for information technology and digitalisation solutions in Europe” with an annual turnover of around four billion euros (2022).²

No digital experiments
with direct democracy!

It’s not that we Swiss don’t have mobile phones and computers. The administrations and services of the federal government, the cantons and municipalities, and even more so the companies, are digitalised to the point of being remote and customer-unfriendly. What bothers IT managers like Thomas Reitzke is the fact that in Switzerland, his and other companies’ digitalisation is not waved through by government decree, but often comes up against the barriers of the Swiss state system, such as the responsibility of the cantons or the objections of the sovereign (unfortunately not always: take the example of “Bologna”, which has been imposed on our universities without resistance from the “veto players”).
 ​​​​​​​ From two online readers’ comments on Reitzke’s article: “I am extremely tech-savvy and am very glad that Switzerland is not experimenting, especially when it comes to democratic processes and identification. […] Digitalisation is not an end in itself. And the risks for democracy in particular are enormous.” – “Thank God Switzerland is lagging behind in digitalisation! The philosopher Konrad Paul Liessmann recently said: ‘Experience shows that ethical systems adapt to technical systems and not the other way round. In other words, morality very often adapts to the technical possibilities.’”
  We recently witnessed the dangers of digitalisation for the guarantee of democratic decisions during the National Council elections. Three days after the ballot papers were counted, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) had to announce that it had published incorrect figures on election Sunday (22 October). The reason for this was “faulty programming in the data import programme for cantons Appenzell and Glarus”.³
  This means that the experiments with electronic voting, which have failed several times in Switzerland, are off the table for the time being. Because as long as votes are cast on paper, the risk of erroneous results is minimised. In the municipalities, all ballot papers are stored for years so that any suspicion of an error in the digital storage or transmission of results can be verified. So, let’s take it in our stride if Switzerland is “lagging behind” when it comes to digitalisation.

Public service must serve
the people, not the IT companies

In his newspaper commentary, Reitzke calls on the newly elected Swiss parliament not to tackle upcoming political problems, such as health insurance premiums that are barely affordable for many households, with political solutions, because “there are certainly […] simpler ways to reduce costs - while at the same time improving the system and increasing the benefits for patients. The key is digitalisation.” According to Reitzke, e-health encompasses much more than the electronic patient dossier and, according to ETH and McKinsey, the potential savings amount to 8.2 billion a year.
  Healthcare is not one of my areas of expertise, so I am happy to leave a more detailed analysis of the subject to the experts. But the fact that programmes from IT companies and one-sided expert reports are being used in the interests of the client to run down our good healthcare system so that the state can save billions and tech companies can earn billions – that beats everything! Cutting costs while increasing benefits for patients? Tell it to the marines!
  It is unacceptable that rural hospitals in affluent Switzerland should be closed despite a proven need, or that hundreds of highly qualified and long-serving doctors and nurses at St. Gallen hospitals should be made redundant over the next few years for purely economic reasons. Yet everyone knows that there is a severe shortage of doctors and nursing staff in the Swiss healthcare system, which means that they are often stretched to their limits. And we are closing hospitals and laying off specialists? Our public service institutions do not need to be cost-neutral. We pay our taxes so that everyone in the country can receive good care. If we want to make savings, we would be better off reducing the administrative bubbles at federal and cantonal level.

AI is used to trim workers for performance
 or replace them with robots

The current huge hype in the digital world is “artificial intelligence (AI)”. Among other things, this is supposed to solve “problems in the labour market”. Microsoft has already invested 13 billion dollars in AI and hosted a tech conference in Seattle in mid-November. Among other things, the “Copilot” was presented there, a “digital assistant for daily work” that “helps employees in service and production to complete complex tasks and solve problems faster without interrupting their workflow”.⁴
  Journalist Philipp Gollmer reports from Seattle on what this “help” can look like: “Initially, Microsoft is primarily targeting office workers. In combination with mixed reality glasses* [...], Copilot will soon also support workers on factory floors. Using voice commands, they will be able to access information directly, for example on the maintenance or assembly of a machine, without having to laboriously look through documentation.”⁵ (translation of all quotes Current Concerns)
  As a digital non-professional having both feet firmly on the ground and gifted with common sense, I will try to extract the essence of these descriptions. Firstly, employees’ performance is to be increased by no longer having to think for themselves or “laboriously look through documentation”, but by having a digital “assistant” continuously dictate everything necessary for the work process. This is unpleasantly reminiscent of the assembly line work of earlier times: Today, the worker is trimmed for performance by digital instructions instead of the speed of the conveyor belt.
  Secondly, employers will be tempted to invest their money in AI because they will then need fewer workers. In other words, AI will “solve” “problems in the labour market” through redundancies.
  Do you remember the “health-care robots” that are supposed to serve meals or distribute medication in hospitals and retirement homes? Obviously, their tech-savvy inventors have never heard of the fact that the most important thing that old and sick people need, apart from professional help, in order to feel cared for and recover, is the care of a fellow human being, the emotional sympathy, the friendly voice, the human relationship. Incidentally, this also applies to office and trade workers: instead of being fed with digital instructions, many prefer to look things up themselves or ask a colleague or the boss when they are queuing somewhere.
  In some sectors, companies are even led to believe that they can save on manpower altogether. For example, driverless taxis are used in US cities such as San Francisco – until the first accident, then it becomes expensive for the company.⁶ A double misfortune for the sacked taxi drivers. Firstly, they no longer have a job and secondly, they feel useless because they could supposedly be replaced by a robot. Really? Many passengers enjoy chatting to the driver, they are happy when he carries their heavy suitcases to the door and will be happy to travel with the same taxi driver next time.

Why a comprehensive
education for every child?
AI promotes the 20:80 society

Philipp Gollmer reports from Seattle: “In an interview with journalists, Microsoft’s Head of Communications Frank Shaw used an example to explain exactly how Copilot makes people more productive. ‘Half of Word users close the programme again without having written a single letter,’ he said. They don’t know how exactly they want to start. ‘This is where AI can help you get started,’ Shaw said, by asking at the top of the blank sheet of paper what you want to write and already making some suggestions for wording. Copilot can help further […] with replying to emails.”⁷
  Anyone who is concerned about the poor education of our young people as a result of Curriculum 21, inadequate teacher training and heterogeneous and too large classes without teacher-led lessons will feel queasy in the face of such “help” for those in employment. Why should children learn to write a text if all they have to do later is enter a keyword and the text is delivered? Why should commercial apprentices understand double-entry bookkeeping if they only have to send invoices and reminders in the company, which are largely pre-formulated? Why should primary school pupils memorise multiplication tables or learn written division when everyone has a calculator anyway, and why do they have to pay attention to spelling when Word highlights the mistakes and offers a suggested correction?
  Beat Döbeli, teacher trainer at the Schwyz University of Teacher Education (PH), answered some of these questions succinctly on SRF radio: No, the pupils don’t need to be able to do all this, but should rather use their learning time for more contemporary learning content. In response to the question: “Will pupils go stupid if artificial intelligence can do many things faster and over time better than humans?” Döbeli replied that he was convinced that this was not the case: “Even the ancient Greeks feared losing their ability to memorise things because of the wax tablet,” said the teacher trainer.⁸ This absurd comparison demonstrates that we should not do without history as a subject under any circumstances.
  This is where the wheel turns full circle: education reformers and politicians from various corners are responsible for the large number of poorly educated young people, and the global tech companies produce the software and robots to go with it. Despite all the ineffective reforms, a small proportion of young people (around 20 per cent) still learn what they need during their time at school to be able to complete an apprenticeship with a vocational secondary school or a grammar school – if they have a favourable learning attitude and a good dose of intellectual stimulation from home and if they have parents (and at best a teacher) who provide them with sensible support. It is also beneficial for successful integration into professional and social life if parents have sufficient knowledge of German and can provide learning support or pay for private schooling if necessary. In any case, this unsatisfactory situation cannot be called “equal opportunities” – no digitalised aid can hide this fact.

AI devours a large amount of energy

And the icing on the cake: “All these AI applications, especially when people around the world are supposed to use them, consume a large amount of energy and computing power,” says Philipp Gollmer in the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. When asked, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella denies that AI leads to energy bottlenecks: This is because “the improvement in computing capacity per unit of energy thanks to AI is astonishing. This would also accelerate scientific progress and solve the energy problem.” All clear? Gollmer’s ironic closing remark hits the nail on the head: “So if you believe Microsoft, Copilot is the key to all our problems.”  •

¹ Reitzke, Thomas. “Die Schweiz digital erneuern”. (Digitally renewing Switzerland). In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 17 November 2023
² https://www.t-systems.com/de/en/company/about-t-systems/profile
³ “Wähleranteile waren falsch – Bund verrechnet sich: FDP liegt jetzt doch vor der Mitte” (Voter shares were wrong - Confederation miscalculates: FDP is now ahead of the centre after all). SRF News of 26 October 2023
⁴ https://www.connect-living.de/news/microsoft-ignite-2023
⁵ Gollmer, Philipp. “Microsoft setzt voll auf künstliche Intelligenz” (Microsoft is fully committed to artificial intelligence). In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 20 November 2023
⁶ “Der Chef der Robotaxi-Firma Cruise ist während der Ermittlungen zu einem Unfall mit einer Fussgängerin in San Francisco zurückgetreten» (The head of the robotaxi company Cruise has resigned during the investigation into an accident involving a pedestrian in San Francisco.) Keystone-SDA of 20 November 2023
⁷ Gollmer, Philipp. “Microsoft setzt voll auf künstliche Intelligenz” (Microsoft is fully committed to artificial intelligence). In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of 20 November 2023
⁸ Pribakovic, Ivana. “Beat Döbeli: ‘Mit ChatGPT sind alle überfordert’ (Everyone is overwhelmed with ChatGPT)”. Radio SRF. Daily talk of 21 November 2023

* According to Wikipedia, mixed reality glasses “mix the natural perception of a user with an artificial (computer-generated) perception”.