The European Union’s AI Act was enacted to balance a new legal framework with the industry’s significant innovative potential. It represents a cooperative risk-based approach that seeks to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry. The paper employs the analytical framework of polycentric governance to shed light on the European AI governance space. Polycentric governance is a system of formally independent decision-making centres that come together to create common policy. Using a polycentricity perspective broadens our understanding of complex regulatory solutions by incorporating non-hierarchical governance mechanisms. I argue that, in European AI governance, embedded polycentric systems can support EU regulatory efforts by broadening participation, making the regulatory architecture more responsive, and fostering productive innovation.
The analysis focuses on the key actors involved in European AI governance to understand the concept of embedded polycentricity. A preliminary mapping of actors and the nature of their relationships within different policymaking systems indicates that polycentric governance arrangements complement multi-level governance. This paper focusses on the European Artificial Intelligence Board as an example of a polycentric system embedded in the European AI governance space. It has the potential to support a responsive regulatory architecture and foster productive innovation.
Employing the lens of polycentric governance adds to our understanding of the EU as a regulatory actor, which has predominantly been examined from a multi-level perspective. Demonstrating how capacities may be distributed across a policy space is particularly relevant to improve our understanding of the complex nature of policy problems presented by AI technologies.
