PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Rainer Mühlhoff

Rainer Mühlhoff is a German philosopher and mathematician who studies how artificial intelligence shapes power, privacy and everyday life. They wrote a mathematics diploma thesis at Leipzig in 2008, earned a philosophy PhD at the Free University of Berlin in 2016, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Science of Intelligence cluster at the Technische Universität Berlin from 2019 to 2021. Their 2020 paper on Human-Aided AI argued that deep-learning systems capture human cognitive abilities, and in 2021 they introduced the idea of predictive privacy and became professor of the ethics of artificial intelligence at the University of Osnabrück, the first such professorship in Germany. Two books followed in 2025: The Ethics of AI from Bristol University Press, and Künstliche Intelligenz und der neue Faschismus from Reclam, which won the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's 2026 prize "Das politische Buch". They are Professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at Osnabrück and a researcher at the Institute of Medical Informatics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

Born
1982
Works
95
Citations
1,487
h-index
15

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2008–2016

    From mathematics to philosophy

    They study mathematics with minors in theoretical physics and computer science and write a diploma thesis on "Higher Spin Fields on Curved Spacetimes" at the University of Leipzig in 2008. After a second degree in philosophy, gender studies and German literature in Berlin, they earn a philosophy PhD at the Free University of Berlin in 2016, supervised by Jan Slaby and Martin Saar, with a dissertation on affect theory after Spinoza and Foucault.

  2. 2015–2019

    Affective Societies in Berlin

    They work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1171 Affective Societies at the Freie Universität Berlin from 2015 to 2019. The dissertation appears in print in 2018 as the book Immersive Macht. Affekttheorie nach Spinoza und Foucault, published by Campus.

  3. 2019–2021

    Science of Intelligence and Human-Aided AI

    They are a postdoctoral fellow at the Excellence Cluster "Science of Intelligence" at the Technische Universität Berlin from 2019 to 2021, and a member of its Executive Board from 2019. In 2020 they publish "Human-Aided Artificial Intelligence" in New Media & Society, which argues that machine learning is structurally dependent on human participation and that deep-learning systems capture human cognitive abilities.

  4. 2021

    Predictive privacy and a professorship

    In 2021 they publish "Predictive Privacy: Towards an Applied Ethics of Data Analytics" in Ethics and Information Technology, which introduces predictive privacy as an ethical principle protecting individuals and groups against differential treatment based on machine learning and big data analytics. In August 2021 they join the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Osnabrück as professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, the first professorship in Germany focused on that field.

  5. 2025

    The Ethics of AI

    Bristol University Press publishes their open-access book The Ethics of AI: Power, Critique, Responsibility in 2025. It introduces the concept of Human-Aided AI, revisits the history of AI and cybernetics, calls for collective responsibility and stronger regulation, and closes with a Manifesto for a Power-Aware Ethics of AI.

  6. July 2025

    AI and the New Fascism

    Reclam publishes their German-language book Künstliche Intelligenz und der neue Faschismus in July 2025, with the English title AI and the New Fascism. The book asks how to identify the increasingly fascist tendencies that emerge from the alliance between the tech industry and the new right.

  7. 2026

    The Political Book prize

    The Friedrich Ebert Foundation gives its 2026 prize "Das politische Buch" to Künstliche Intelligenz und der neue Faschismus, with the award ceremony in Berlin in May 2026. By September 2026 the original and the expanded edition have together spent 45 weeks on the Spiegel bestseller list for paperback nonfiction.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Osnabrück

    They are Professor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence at the Institute of Cognitive Science and the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Osnabrück, and a researcher at the Institute of Medical Informatics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. From October 2025 to March 2026 they are a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford.

Career

  1. Since 2026Charité - Universitätsmedizin BerlinResearcher
  2. Since 2021University of OsnabrückProfessor of Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
  3. 2025–2026University of OxfordVisiting Research Fellow
  4. 2019–2021Technische Universität BerlinPostdoctoral Fellow, Executive Board Member
  5. 2015–2019Freie Universität BerlinPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2016Freie Universität BerlinPhD
  2. 2008Leipzig UniversityMathematics diploma

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Affective Arrangements2017 · Emotion Review · 221 citations
  2. Decarbonizing urban transport in European cities: four cases show possibly high co-benefits2012 · Environmental Research Letters · 142 citations
  3. Digitale Entmündigung und User Experience Design. Wie digitale Geräte uns nudgen, tracken und zur Unwissenheit erziehen2018 · Leviathan · 139 citations
  4. Affective resonance and social interaction2014 · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · 137 citations
  5. Human-aided artificial intelligence: Or, how to run large computations in human brains? Toward a media sociology of machine learning2019 · New Media & Society · 115 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Osnabrück. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Osnabrück. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Rainer Mühlhoff yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. About - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Rainer Mühlhoff - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Research Profile - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Article on “Human-Aided AI” now published in New Media & Society - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Article on Predictive Privacy appeared in Ethics and Information Technology (open access) - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Professor of Ethics of AI at Osnabrück University - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. New book out now: The Ethics of AI: Power, Critique, Responsibility - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Rainer Mühlhoff, The Ethics of AI. Power, Critique, Responsibility (2025) | Foucault News michel-foucault.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. New Book “AI and the New Fascism” (Reclam Verlag) - Rainer Mühlhoff rainermuehlhoff.de. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. Das politische Buch 2026 fes.de. Checked 20 October 2026.