Description
The world is standing at a crossroads- on one hand, Artificial Intelligence(AI) is being rapidly integrated with ever increasing aspects of life, on the other, there is apparently a normative flux in the field of technology regulation. There is a growing body of literature on the economic, social and political impacts of AI. But there is something amiss- critiquing standalone features of AI or its adverse effects in specific fields lead to nothing but a fragmented picture. A holistic understanding would require tracing the origin of the current stage of technological development. This paper intends to fill this gap by identifying the beginning of this journey to the World Summit on Information Society(2003-2005) and scrutinising the evolution of the subsequent spree harnessing ICT for economic development in the European Union(EU). A Constructivist perspective can help untangle the puzzle how the rights-based norm entrepreneurship of the EU, anchored in Liberal-bourgeois sensibilities, could co-exist with rival norm entrepreneurial drive and regulatory capture by the big tech players. The key argument is two-fold. First, the structural conditions created by the development of cloud capital has engendered some unique material and regulatory challenges for the EU. But how the regulator deals with structural imperatives is partly motivated by its normative commitment and how it projects its identity. Second, actors’ identity and self-perception influence how they respond to each other’s norm-entrepreneurial activities. In this case, the EU’s sense of self as a defender of democratic values is as much important as corporate identity and the Silicon Valley culture. This paper undertakes an evaluation of how the information society project has been implemented over the decades followed by a critical assessment of the EU’s landmark regulatory initiatives. Finally, the EU’s AI-related initiatives are examined as a culmination of two-decades long information society project and its implications.
