Rethinking participatory technology assessment in security governance

This article explores participatory technology assessment (pTA) in security contexts and asks whether it has a purely symbolic function or whether it can enable real democratic influence. Googles’ involvement in the U.S. military’s Project Maven serves as an example. At the time, Google employees publicly protested against their company’s involvement in the military use of its AI, leading Google to drop its contract with the Pentagon. However, a literature review has shown that secrecy and power asymmetries are typical characteristics of security innovations, so formal pTA rarely goes beyond symbolic politics. Nonetheless, conflicts such as these can open up opportunities for public scrutiny and democratic influence.