Imaginaries of Artificial Intelligence: The Communicative Construction of AI in China, Germany and the US

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Katzenbach
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: from 2020 to 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450649594

Artificial intelligence (AI) is considered a key technology in contemporary societies, expectedto substantially change sectors as diverse as health, warfare, mobility or communication. Consequently, political andeconomic stakeholders in many countries have allocated considerable resources to AI development, and the technologyhas been the object of extensive public debates. At the same time, observers criticize these public debates for using theconcept of AI vaguely and inconsistently, for over-hyping its promise, and for oscillating between naive hopes anddystopian fears. This indicates the fundamental interpretative flexibility of broad technologies such as AI: Theirdevelopment and societal integration is contextual, shaped by political, economic and sociocultural interests, and subjectto discursive negotiations in public arenas. These public debates are crucially important. Here, the “sociotechnicalimaginaries”, i.e. the societal understandings of the possibilities, potentials and risks embedded in certain technologies,are socially constructed. These imaginaries play a large role in influencing how societies deal with emerging keytechnologies like AI.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Co-Investigator: Dr. João Carlos Viera Magalhães
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Mike Schäfer