Defining and contextualising AI

Pascal D. Koenig ()

Chapter 2 in Understanding the Politics of Artificial Intelligence, 2025, pp 9-18 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter introduces AI as an inherently complex concept that can refer to many different things and that is malleable in ways which matter for how AI can become politically relevant. It gives a brief overview of the historical roots of modern AI, illustrating how attempts to define AI are also tied to the concrete historical context, such as the respective technological capabilities. The chapter furthermore points to the challenges of defining AI, specifies what notion of AI is used in the book, and describes variants of machine learning on which many modern AI systems are based. Finally, the chapter explains why it is important to understand AI systems as a part of larger socio-technical systems that comprise the concrete setting of AI use, various stakeholders, and prevailing interests and power relations that shape the development and use of AI systems.

Keywords: History of AI; AI agents; Machine learning; Socio-technical systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035348015
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