The objective of the presentation is to reflect on the relationship of the developing artificial intelligence, citizenship and democracy. Several opportunities and risks emerge for democratic civicness as the artificial intelligence gains strength. I discuss this from the perspective of how to relate to these opportunities and threats while maintaining human-centred democratic politics and citizenship, paying special attention to the issue of organizational learning. Concisely, artificial intelligence is the machine’s ability to perform some cognitive functions we usually associate with human minds, such as perceiving, reasoning, learning, interacting with the environment, problem-solving, and even exercising creativity (McKinsey & Company, 2024). The development of artificial intelligence amplifies broader digitalization that can be concisely characterized as the ongoing integration of digital technologies and digitised data across the economy and society (Eurofound). Technological changes include the proliferation of various communication systems—internet, Zoom, etc.—that enable us to have more information, discussions etc., but also monitoring solutions, huge databases, analytics and operation, the development of autonomous devices, such as drones that fly and can deliver post or kill someone. New technologies enable a new level of cohesion, control and organization in a much more impersonal way, leading i.a. to transformations within sovereignty and neoliberal technocratic governance. I discuss the potential in the artificial intelligence related changes for democratic civicness in terms of both democratic politics and policy, polity and governance, and democratic citizenship (e.g. Nyers 2009, Guillaume, Huysmans 2013, Hinz et al 2019, Susskind 2020, Kalev 2024 forthcoming, Kalev 2025 forthcoming). A special attention will be given to organizational learning (Göhlich et al 2018), especially the resources and obstacles of accommodation and creating a proactive strategy towards the development of artificial intelligence. How does AI influence knowledge hierarchies in organizations? Who has access to knowledge? What counts as valid knowledge and what could be the implications of novel knowledge hierarchies in terms of power, agency and democracy? In order to learn, organizations must act as protagonists within the learning context – but in conditions of uncertainty this needs special attention. The opportunities and risks of AI use create diverse paths of organizational learning and adaptation that is a key aspect of human and democratic accommodation to the new situation. Of interest is also how organizations, as a context for learning, hinder or support learning. This extends to the learning in between organizations and systemic learning in general.

Didier Bigo, Engin F. Isin, Evelyn Ruppert (Eds.) (2019). Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights. Abington, New York: Routledge. Eurofound. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/en/topic/digitalisation#:~:text=Digitalisation%20is%20the%20ongoing%20integration,across%20the%20economy%20and%20society Göhlich, Michael; Novotný, Petr; Revsbæk, Line; Schröer, Andreas; Weber, Susanne Maria; Yi, Byung Jun (2018). Research Memorandum Organizational Education. Studia Paedagogica, 23(2), 205-215. http://www.phil.muni.cz/journals/index.php/studia-paedagogica/article/view/1802/1968 Xavier Guillaume, Jef Huysmans (Eds.), (2013). Citizenship and Security. The Constitution of Political Being. London, New York: Routledge. Arne Hintz, Lina Denick, Karin Wahl-Jorgensen (2019). Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society. Cambridge, Medford: Polity Press. Leif Kalev (forthcoming, 2024). Statehood 3.0: Temptations and Restraints. East-West Studies. Leif Kalev (forthcoming, 2025). Digitalisation and Democracy. East-West Studies. McKinsey and Company (2024). What is AI (artificial intelligence)? https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-ai Nyers, Peter (2009). Securitizations of Citizenship. London, New York: Routledge. Jamie Susskind (2020). Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.