Global AI policy in the making: actors, framings, and approaches

Abstract

The rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have sparked regulatory and political activities in jurisdictions around the world. This dissertation outlines and investigates the nascent domain of global AI policy, using a variety of methods and presenting novel empirical data to substantiate the discussion. The three articles predominantly focus on actors and their preferences for different approaches to AI governance. Through qualitative and quantitative document analyses, this research illustrates how stakeholders frame the AI policy debate according to their interests. For one, the findings reveal international organisations’ high levels of agency in addressing global AI policy and a tendency to address new challenges within existing governance frameworks. Moreover, the analysis of national AI strategies shows that democratic governments have blind spots when it comes to the impact of AI on democracy. Lastly, the dissertation uncovers systematic differences across sectors and regions regarding the salient innovation-protection trade-off. But it also identifies a certain alignment between the American and European public sectors, which might be indicative of closer international cooperation in the future.