Politics and policy of Artificial Intelligence

This contribution aims to examine state of the art and to set out a research agenda to examine politics and policy of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by drawing on a special issue in Review of Policy Research on politics and policy of AI. This new special issue, co-edited together with Tero Erkkilä (University of Helsinki) and developed over three years through a series of conference panels and a virtual workshop, brings together interdisciplinary studies on this emerging theme focusing on issues such as global standard-setting, policy making in the US and the European Union, social infrastructure, digital platforms and gender. This contribution will provide an overview of this special issue by focusing on five overarching themes. First, how AI and the concept of technology more broadly is understood and defined in politics and policy? Second, what is the role of ideational and cognitive dimension in AI policy? Third, what manifestations of power do we encounter in AI politics and policies? Fourth, in a fast-developing area of AI policy and politics, what is relationship between change and continuity? Fifth, how do intertwined local, national, regional and global processes play out in the field of AI politics and policy? Furthermore, it will discuss promising avenues for future research in this area.