The Relationship between Knowledge Production and Google in Framing and Reframing AI Imaginary. A Comparative Algorithmic Audit between the US and Italy

This study offers an analysis and comparison of search results from Google concerning the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in two geographically and politically different contexts: the United States and Italy. As new AI systems, tools, and solutions are developed and implemented in each sector of human life on a global scale, certain imaginaries of AI are emerging. These imaginaries constitute the ground for the public understanding, support, and disapproval of certain AI technologies and regulations. As citizens turn into users, Google remains the dominant gatekeeper of information, thus becoming an influential actor in sharping AI imaginaries. The following analysis is a response to the criticism of Google's search results, considering Google as an essential producer and certifier of AI imaginaries for general public. The comparison of search queries conducted in this analysis shows that the sources which Google presents in its search results add to different types of AI imaginaries, consequently influencing public opinion in different, often asymmetrical, ways. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]