UN Human Development Report Highlights Seth Lazar’s Work on Algorithmic Power

The 2025 UN Human Development Report, A Matter of Choice: People and Possibilities in the Age of AI, draws extensively on Seth Lazar’s philosophical work to examine the nature of power in an algorithmically mediated world. His concept of the “algorithmic city” is used to frame how computational systems reshape social interactions. The report also adopts Lazar’s taxonomy of “power over,” “power between,” and “power through” to analyze how algorithmic intermediaries influence choices, shape attention, and mediate trust.

These frameworks inform critical sections of the report dealing with AI governance, platform influence, and informational justice—connecting ethical theory directly to global development policy.

Read the full report here.