For Cloud Ethics: Unpacking Ignorance in Algorithmic Decision-making

The note critically examines Amazon’s sexist hiring algorithms as an exemplary case to illustrate the sociotechnical dynamics of ignorance prevalent in contemporary workplaces. With the increasing adoption of algorithmic techniques, the digital transformation of conventional management practices has raised concerns about biases and limitations in algorithmic decision-making, despite its growing popularity. Building on Louise Amoore’s (2020) seminal work on ‘cloud ethics’, we contend that algorithmic management is essentially ignorant and unsettled, with managers exploiting the innate biases of computational devices to realize traditional goals of efficiency and instrumentalism. Our ultimate aim is to demonstrate how Amoore’s concept of cloud ethics highlights the need to confront the ethicopolitical tension of undecidability that lies at the core of our entanglement with algorithms.