The cumulative dissertation project deals with questions of how (German) policy has reacted to the increasing spread of AI technologies to date. As a trend towards national AI policy initiatives was observed internationally in 2017 and 2018, Germany also took the opportunity to put the topic of AI on its agenda. Several initiatives have been set up at both federal and state level, ranging from strategies and temporary committees to new areas of responsibility in ministries. Against this background, the dissertation project asks in a first contribution whether there is already an independent AI policy field. This perspective appears promising for two reasons: Firstly, little attention is paid to the emergence of new policy fields at a theoretical level, while the policy field as a category plays a self-evident role in policy analysis. Secondly, the policy field of digital politics and its constitution is already the subject of controversial debate. By analysing expert interviews and policy documents, it is shown how a separate segment has emerged within the policy field of digital policy and how technological change and change in the policy field go hand in hand in the German case.
A second article examines a specific actor in the newly emerging AI policy landscape: using the Enquete Commission on Artificial Intelligence, which was set up in the Bundestag during the last legislative period, the article sheds light on the Commission’s influence in putting AI on the parliamentary agenda and the importance of structures in parliaments to discuss and deal with new technologies as moving targets. It also contributes to the understanding of the need for expertise for parliamentarians to define policy positions and understand the specific policy challenges posed by the increasing importance of AI technologies.
The dissertation project is supervised by Prof Dr Christoph Bieber at the University of Duisburg-Essen.