• Being a doctoral researcher at the Research Unit

Communicative Construction of Alternative AI Futures at Algorithm Watch and Mozilla Foundation

PhD project of Phillip Engelhardt

The discourse on the future of AI is currently dominated by commercial systems, profitable use cases, and promises of economic growth driven by Big Tech. Various actors from the non-profit sector and beyond regard this dominance of commercial AI as a threat to the social fabric: systems such as ChatGPT or Grok are criticized for their at times problematic response behavior, while companies like OpenAI, xAI, and Palantir are accused of collaborating with authoritarian regimes and subverting democratic institutions.

The regulation of Big Tech through (inter-)national legislation cannot keep pace with the speed and dynamics of AI development. As an alternative to the centralization of AI development in the commercial sector, the idea of a Public AI is being imagined: a universally accessible and publicly controlled AI infrastructure designed to support and sustain deliberative-democratic processes. Beyond its commercialization, AI offers diverse potentials for the positive transformation of society in the public interest. Public AI seeks to recognize and realize these potentials.

The aim of the dissertation is to understand the communicative construction of Public AI as a future-oriented vision of artificial intelligence. Drawing on Grounded Theory methodology, three dimensions are analyzed: (1) the constellation of actors surrounding Public AI, (2) the communicative practices of this actor constellation, and (3) the conceptualization of AI as a public good. The data basis for the analysis consists of qualitative coding of interviews, publication materials, and key texts, several event ethnographies, and a discourse-analytical engagement with an online forum.

The dissertation contributes to research in communication and media studies by examining an emergent AI future vision that, within the complex imaginative AI landscape, is conceived as a third way — alongside commercial systems and their state regulation — for shaping the society of the future with AI.

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• Phillip Engelhardt