AUTO-WELF: Automating Welfare – Algorithmic Infrastructures for Human Flourishing in Europe

In a world where automation is thought to increase productivity and efficiency with less effort and at lower costs, what happens to human flourishing when this logic is deployed to support decisions in the welfare sector?

AUTO-WELF investigates the extensive implementation of automated decision-making in the welfare sector across Europe. It is the first to provide a comparative analysis of automated welfare provision across European welfare regimes to examine the implications of algorithms and artificial intelligence for the future of European citizens and societies. Data-based infrastructures for public administration are shaping not only welfare provision, but also state-citizen relations and prompt questions of human agency in relation to complex socio-technical systems, ethics and accountability, as well as biases and inequalities.

The project foregrounds the perspective of people implicated in the automation process, including software engineers, case workers and citizens. Implementing a multimethod, interdisciplinary and cross-country comparative approach, the project will develop ground-breaking knowledge on the consequences of automating welfare in two domains:

  1. core welfare service;
  2. communal welfare infrastructures.

These domains will be explored across eight European countries (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden) representing four types of welfare state and its different stages of automated decision-making. The project provides an in-depth and cutting-edge understanding of the process of automating welfare from a European perspective producing highly relevant insights into how automated decision-making can support but also harm human flourishing.

KEYWORDS:

automated decision-making, automation ,digital welfare, digital rights, comparative research, algorithms, artificial intelligence, human agency.

CONSORTIUM

  • Project Leader: Anne Kaun, Södertörn University, Department for Culture and Education, Sweden, e-mail
  • Stine Lomborg, University of Copenhagen, Department of Communication, Denmark, e-mail
  • Christian Pentzold, Leipzig University, Institute for Communication and Media Studies, Germany,  e-mail
  • Karolina Sztandar-Sztanderska, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology Polish Academy of Science, Poland, e-mail
  • Doris Allhutter, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Technology Assessment, Austria, e-mail

COOPERATION PARTERS

  • Matthias Spielkamp, Algorithm Watch
  • Birgitte Kofod Olsen, DataEthics
  • Tanja Mally,  Epicenter.works – Plattform Grundrechtspolitik
  • Rikke Frank Jörgensen , The Danish Institute for Human Rights
  • Ana Jorge, Lusófona University
  • Alice Mattoni, University of Bologna
  • Brigitte Alfter, Arena for Journalism in Europe / DataHarvest
  • Daniel Neugebauer, Haus der Kulturen der Welt
  • Veronika Liebl, Ars Electronica Linz GmbH & Co KG

EFFECTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Project website

Project achievements:

In a world where automation is thought to increase productivity and e:iciency with less e:ort and at lower costs, what happens to human flourishing when this logic is deployed to support decisions in the welfare sector? AUTOWELF investigates the extensive implementation of automated decision-making in the welfare sector across Europe. It is the first to provide a comparative analysis of automated welfare provision across European welfare regimes to examine the implications of algorithms and artificial intelligence for the future of European citizens and societies. Data-based infrastructures for public administration are shaping not only welfare provision, but also state-citizen relations and prompt questions of human agency in relation to complex socio-technical systems, ethics and accountability, as well as biases and inequalities. The project foregrounds the perspective of people implicated in the automation process including software engineers, case workers and citizens. Implementing a multi-method, interdisciplinary and cross-country comparative approach, the project will develop groundbreaking knowledge on the consequences of automating welfare in two domains: a) core welfare service and b) communal welfare infrastructures. These domains will be explored across eight European countries (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden) representing four types of the welfare state and its di:erent stages of automated decision-making. The project provides an in-depth and cutting-edge understanding of the process of automating welfare from a European perspective producing highly relevant insights into how automated decision-making can support but also harm  human flourishing.

Publications:

  • Kaun, A., Männiste, A. (2025), Public sector chatbots: AI frictions and data infrastructures at the interface of the digital welfare state, New Media and Society. Accepted/in publication
  • Dalme, N., Newman-Griffis, D., Ibrahimi, M., Jia, X., Allhutter, D., Amelang, K., & Jarke, J. (2024). Configuring Data Subjects. In J. Jarke & Bates, J. (Eds.), Dialogues in Data Power. Shifting Response-abilities in a Datafied World, (pp. 10-30). Bristol: Bristol University Press. Retrieved from https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/dialogues-in-data-power
  • Strzelecka, C. (2024), Critical data studies meets discard studies: Waste data reflectivity in digital urban waste tracking system, Convergence, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241288452
  • Allhutter, D. Allhutter, D. & Alushi, A. & Cavalcanti de Alcântara, R. & Männiste, M. & Pentzold, C. & Sosnowski, S. (2024), Public value in the making of automated and datafied welfare futures, Internet Policy Review, 13(3). https://doi.org/10.14763/2024.3.1803
  • Bagger, C. (2024), Connectivity as productivity: Workplace from Meta and organizational datafication, Media, Culture & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241270941
  • Bagger, C. (2024), The Absent Algorithm: Communicating around artificial intelligence in enterprise social media, MedieKultur, 40(76), 77-99. https://doi.org/10.7146/mk.v40i76.143577
  • Kaun, A., Lomborg, S., Pentzold, C., Allhutter, D., & Sztandar-Sztanderska, K. (2023), Crosscurrents: Welfare, Media, Culture & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437231154777
  • Bagger, C., Einarsson, A. M., Andelsman Alvarez, V., Klausen, M., & Lomborg, S. (2023), Digital Resignation and the Datafied Welfare State, Big Data & Society, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231206806
  • Lomborg, S., Kaun, A., & Scott Hansen, S. (2023), Automated decision-making: Toward a people-centred approach, Sociology Compass, 17(8), e13097. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.13097
  • Kaun, A., Larsson O., A., Masso, A. (2023), Automating public administration: citizens’ attitudes towards automated decision-making across Estonia, Sweden, and Germany, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2023.2205493
  • Kaun,A. & Liminga, A. (2023), Welfare Service Centers: Maintenance, Repair, and Care at the Analog Interfaces of the Digital Welfare State, New Media & Society https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231220362
  • Kaun, A. .Winter, K., Digitala (o)trygghetsteknologier som sociotekniska system: föreställningar, materialitet och praktiker, Tekniken i samhället, samhället i tekniken, vol. 18, 2025, Arkiv. Tidskrift för samhällsanalys, https://doi.org/10.13068/2000-6217.18.4
  • Kaun, A., Maenniste, M., “What should I do?” Interacting with local government in the age of AI, in: Simon Vinge & Maja Fjaestad (eds.) Algorithmic Rule: AI and the future of democracy in Sweden and beyond, FOUNDATION FOR EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE STUDIES (FEPS), 2025, AKADEMIKERFÖRBUNDET SSR, ISBN:978-2-39076-037-5, https://feps-europe.eu/publication/algorithmic-rule/
  • Kaun, A., Lomborg, S., Liminga, A., Aiming at a moving target: how to research the automation of welfare, in: Galis, V. & Vlassis, V. (eds.) Digitalization, Data and Welfare: Sociotechnical Approaches to Service Delivery, Edward Elgar, 2025, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035338153-9781035338146 / 9781035338153, https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-oa/book/9781035338153/9781035338153.xml
  • Obelitz Söe, S., Frank Jörgensen, R., Engaging with Non-Minds and Hybrid Others, in: H. P. Olsen, J. L. Slosser, S. A. Ravn, J. Eddebo, & J. H. Rosenberg (eds.), Artificial Intelligence, Humans and the Law, Routledge, 2025, https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003565963-8/engaging-non-minds-hybrid-others-sille-obelitz-s%C3%B8e-rikke-frank-j%C3%B8rgensen?context=ubx&refId=f1092986-5e3c-4b17-aaaf-6792772d93bc
  • Kaun, A., Maenniste, M., Public sector chatbots: AI frictions and data infrastructures at the interface of the digital welfare state, New Media & Society, 27 (4), 2025, https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251314394-n/a-n/a
  • Strzelecka, C., Green-digital transition in municipal waste management: Ethnographic perspective on ‘smart’ waste monitoring and management system, Environmental Science & Policy, 167, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104037
  • Berdys, M., Strzelecka, C., Trochymiak, M. Domaradzka A., Narratives of smart urbanism and their role in digitalization of urban services in Poland, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.70015-n/a-n/a
  • Sztandar-Sztanderska, K., How context matters: Human oversight of automated decision-making systems in welfare administration, Journal of European Social Policy, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287251358069, SocArXiv Papers | https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/56zcy_v2
  • Sztandar-Sztanderska, K.,  Mazur J., Politics and algorithmic articulation of law: tracing the discrepancies and backstage decision-making in the development of the profiling algorithm in Polish labour market policies, International Journal of Law in Context, 21(4), 2025, Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1744552325100141
  • Sosnowski, S., Using ICT to Patch the Shortcomings of New Public Management in a Post-Communist Welfare State, Conference on Digital Government Research, 26, 2025, https://doi.org/10.59490/dgo.2025.1062
  • Strzelecka, C., The Ministry of Time: Coordinating Societal Rhythms through Automation, 2024
  • Allhutter, D., J. Jarke & Bates, J. (Eds.) Dalme, N., Newman, Griffis, D., Ibrahimi, M., Jia, X., Amelang, K., & Jarke, J., Configuring Data Subjects, Dialogues in Data Power. Shifting Response-abilities in a Datafied World, Bristol University Press, 2024, ISBN: 978-1529238303, https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/dialogues-in-data-power
  • Strzelecka, C., Critical data studies meets discard studies: Waste data reflectivity in digital urban waste tracking system, Convergence, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241288452-n/a-n/a
  • Pentzold, C., Allhutter, D., Maenniste, M., Alushi, A., Sosnowski, S., Cavalcanti de Alcântara, R.,  Public value in the making of automated and datafied welfare futures, Internet Policy Review, 13 (3), 2024, https://doi.org/10.14763/2024.3.1803-n/a-n/a
  • Bagger, C., Connectivity as productivity: Workplace from Meta and organizational datafication, Media, Culture & Society, 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241270941
  • Bagger, C., The Absent Algorithm: Communicating around artificial intelligence in enterprise social media, 40(76), MedieKultur, 2024, https://doi.org/10.7146/mk.v40i76.143577
  • Frank Jörgensen, R., Digital Welfare – From the Perspective of Nordic Values and Rights, Nordic Welfare Research: Digitalization – Saving or Undermining the NordicWelfare State, 9(2), 2024, https://doi.org/10.18261/nwr.9.2.7-n/a-n/a
  • Bagger, C., Mahnke, M. S., Navigating platformized generative AI: Examining early adopters’ experiences through the lens of data reflectivity, Convergence, 30(6), 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241300857-n/a-n/a
  • Bagger, C., Smart Cities, Medie- og Kommunikationsleksikon, https://medieogkommunikationsleksikon.dk/smart-cities/
  • Kaun, A., Larsson O., A., Masso, A., Automating public administration: citizens’ attitudes towards automated decision-making across Estonia, Sweden, and Germany, Information, Communication & Society, 27(2), 2023, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2023.2205493
  • Maenniste, M., Invisible infrastructures, visible breakdowns: Rethinking smart pedestrian crossings through citizen experience
  • Allhutter, D., Mager, A., Hitting the Ground. Disaggregating semi-automated fraud detection by spotlighting human labor in algorithmic practices
  • Bagger, C., Digital Citizenship in the Age of Digital Disconnection, in: Hintz, & A. Johns (eds.), Elgar Handbook of Digital Citizenship,
  • Schwarz, B., Jørgensen, R.F., The shifting ideological ‘worlds’ of welfare surveillance: the devaluation and empathetic potentialities of face-to-face ‘control tests’
  • Bagger, C., Schwarz, B., Søe, S., Grey Detectives
  • Strzelecka, C., The Future of Urban Waste: From Closed Systems to Open Waste Data Infrastructure, in: Mager, A, Mayer K, Ridgway R. (eds): Book Politics of Open Infrastructures, Open Book Publishers/ UK
  • Mager, A., Infrastructuring Openness. Austrian practices and politics of opening up government data in the data welfare state, in: Mager, A, Mayer K, Ridgway R. (eds): Book Politics of Open Infrastructures, Open Book Publishers/ UK
  • Berdys, M., “The indicator of CCTV success is winning elections”: Insights from the Implementation of an Algorithmic Video Surveillance System in Poland, in: Proceedings of the 59th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
  • Kaun, A., Maenniste, M., Public values, 2025
  • Kaun, A., Lomborg, S., Sztandar-Sztanderska, K., Allhutter, D., Maenniste, M., Muratspahic, A., Bergmark Hindersson, E., Schwarz, B., Obelitz Söe, S., Frank Jörgensen, R., Hughes, E., Trochymiak, M., Strzelecka, C., Cavalcanti de Alcântara, R., Mager, A., Larsson, A., Automating Welfare, Nordicom, 2026

 Start date

1 October 2022

Project duration

36 months

 Project budget

€ 1 494 809

Funding organisations