The global governance of … what exactly? Experts, knowledge, and the contested making of global AI governance

Hendrik Schopmans

Chapter 3 in Handbook on the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, 2026, pp 26-45 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter explores the politics of expertise in the making of global governance of artificial intelligence (AI). Moving beyond depictions of experts as neutral problem-solvers, it argues that AI experts—from computer scientists to civil society actors—have played a pivotal role in constituting AI as a global governance object in the first place. Drawing on object-centered international relations theory, the chapter shows how epistemic communities have competed over defining what AI is, what problems it causes, and how it should be governed. Through a historical analysis, it traces how expert knowledge has shaped both the emergence of AI on the global policy agenda and the governance architecture that evolved in response. Far from reflecting a neutral, pre-existing problem, the governance object “AI” emerges as a contingent outcome of knowledge struggles. The chapter concludes by urging greater attention to the political consequences of how emerging technologies are made knowable and governable.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Emerging Technologies; Epistemic Communities; Governance Objects; Knowledge Politics; Expert Authority (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035338573
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