Artificial Intelligence in Politicians' Public Statements

AI has got political power, containment of the risks and development of the benefits of AI could only be generated in an informed and open public debate but, warns Suleyman (2023), politicians are reticent to speak openly about the dangers ahead because they are used to a world of order and control, in a condition where the contours of the dilemma are not predictable and the levers of control do not work. Starting from the distinction between ‘governance by AI’ and ‘governance of AI’ (Erman, Furendal 2022), the paper will analyse the public speeches of the main European political leaders on the topic of artificial intelligence, in order to identify - in an ideal-typical way - the most recurrent frames and the political and communicative strategies related to them. In particular, public statements taken from newspapers and statements on official social networks will be collected, and the positions on the influence of artificial intelligence on decision-making and on the externalisation of democratic decision-making to AI systems will be analysed, as well as on the soft law and ethical guidelines produced by private actors in relation to the question of political legitimacy. Methodologically, statements will be selected according to a reasoned choice criterion over the past two years and analysed by means of a CAQDAS.