Ninth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The social, political, and community influence in the AI technology arena has received attention. A nuanced analysis of the right and power dynamic, however, is still needed. Adopting Sliverstone’s domestication theory and Beer’s algorithm in everyday life approach, this paper explores concrete digital platform-based e-government practices in 14 urban communities, in Xi’an City, China. By centering on an AI-powered platform,” Smart State Regulation”, which is released and operated by the Chinese government, the research investigated how the platform and its users at both grassroots and government levels collaborate in daily administrative practices as multi-level actors, and the mediated governance in the process. Through an 8-month-long ethnographic fieldwork and 42 semi-structured interviews, the paper first examined how digital platform users domesticated the platform into their lives, how platform change even reshaped digital democratic practices, then analyzed collaborative networks exists not only between citizens and officials, but human and non-humans. The paper summarizes four factors in examining the evolving role of AI-based applications in contemporary civil society: the productivity of AI, government involvement in policy setting, digital infrastructure factors, and individual understanding and acceptance of AI technology. By reviewing how the four factors function in e-governance within Chinese socio-techno-political contexts, the paper provides a technopolitical scenario of the Global South and enhances understanding of techno-solutionism.