Trust in artificial intelligence: Producing ontological security through governmental visions

With developments in artificial intelligence (AI) widely framed as security concern in both military and civilian realms, governments have turned their attention to regulating and governing AI. In a study of United States (US), Chinese, and European Union (EU) AI documents, we go beyond instrumental understandings of AI as a technological capability, which serves states’ self-interests and the maintenance of their (supra)national security. Our specific interest lies in how AI policies tap into both problem-solving approaches and affective registers to achieve both physical and ontological securities. We find that in governmental visions, AI is perceived as a capability that enhances societal and geopolitical interests while its risks are framed as manageable. This echoes strands within human–computer interaction that draw on human-centered perceptions of technology and assumptions about human–AI relationships of trust. Despite different cultural and institutional settings, the visions of future AI development are shaped by this (shared) understanding of human–AI interaction, offering common ground in the navigation of innovation policies.