Politics and Policy of AI Readiness

Our paper analyses the notion of AI readiness and its global policy scripts. Countries’ ability to harness the benefits and face the risks of AI are often discussed as their AI readiness. The concept of AI readiness involves both economic competitiveness and human-centric use of AI, downplaying the potential tensions between these. Moreover, the policy prescriptions of AI readiness are increasingly acquiring a numerical form with various global rankings emerging to assess countries' capacities to AI integration and to compare countries’ ability to fare the AI related technological and societal transformations. Our paper critically analyses the concept and policy prescriptions of AI readiness at the face of global political challenges.