Problem Definition in the Digital Democracy

The public lecture, open to all, is the keynote speech of the second edition of the Winter School Transnational Challenges and Policy Solutions, jointly organized with John Hopkins University SAIS Europe. In 2025, the Winter School focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Technological Change, and Political Upheavals.

The keynote speaker, Fabrizio Gilardi, is a professor of political science at the University of Zurich, where he researches how artificial intelligence and digital technology are transforming politics and democracy. He directs the ERC Advanced Grant project "Problem Definition in the Digital Democracy" (PRODIGI, 2021–2025) and co-directs the SNF-funded project "Improving the Quality of Online Public Discourse" (2024–2028). His work has been published in leading academic journals.

The lecture examines how persistent narratives shape problem definitions in digital technology debates, with a focus on artificial intelligence. Drawing on empirical evidence from survey experiments and large-scale text analyses, it shows that dominant narratives, such as existential risk in AI, do not displace, but rather add to, public concerns about immediate societal harms like job loss, bias, and misinformation. Meanwhile, in the scientific agenda interdisciplinary contributions are declining, and computer science–only teams increasingly dominate AI research. The talk argues that public and scientific agendas are shaped by the ways problems are framed and reinforced, often prematurely, through media logic, institutional incentives, and a lack of transparency. Recognizing and addressing these dynamics is essential for more accountable and socially responsive technology governance.