AI Cultures in Comparison: Theoretical-Methodological Approaches

A comparative intercultural perspective is essential for addressing disruptive hyper-technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, which are a subject of international competition and national developmental strategies, on the one hand, and a common challenge for humanity, on the other, potentially affecting the regions and the social groups regardless of their political agency and requiring global regulations. This paper discusses the methodological challenges for critical comparative studies of AI cultures, discourses and policies. Its aim is to revise the methodological basis for an intercultural ethical inquiry in line with an empirically oriented philosophy of technology, which is striving to contextualize technologies within social processes. This is especially relevant for AI, the forms and applications of which are so varied and to different extents integrated in the various social worlds so that generalizations are often misleading.