Abstract
The increasing permeation of society by generative AI systems
like ChatGPT has given rise to a pressing task that remains unresolved: the
design of future-proof governance mechanisms that ensure democratic
oversight over those AI systems. To establish and examine this oversight,
it is essential that generative AI systems can be opened up for regulatory
scrutiny. This chapter argues that there are three overarching dimensions to structure research and policy agendas about the governance of
generative AI systems: analytical observability, public inspectability,
and technical modifiability. Empirically, the chapter explicates those
conditions with a focus on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
Those three conditions act as benchmarks to help perceive generative
AI systems as negotiable objects, rather than viewing them as inevitable
forces.
like ChatGPT has given rise to a pressing task that remains unresolved: the
design of future-proof governance mechanisms that ensure democratic
oversight over those AI systems. To establish and examine this oversight,
it is essential that generative AI systems can be opened up for regulatory
scrutiny. This chapter argues that there are three overarching dimensions to structure research and policy agendas about the governance of
generative AI systems: analytical observability, public inspectability,
and technical modifiability. Empirically, the chapter explicates those
conditions with a focus on the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
Those three conditions act as benchmarks to help perceive generative
AI systems as negotiable objects, rather than viewing them as inevitable
forces.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Governing the Digital Society |
| Subtitle of host publication | Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values |
| Editors | José van Dijck, Karin van Es, Anne Helmond, Fernando van der Vlist |
| Publisher | Amsterdam University Press |
| Chapter | 7 |
| Pages | 129-148 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789048562725 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9789048562725, 9789048562718 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 May 2025 |
Keywords
- foundation models
- generative AI systems
- regulatory objects
- AI Act
- transparency obligations
- observability