Technocratic Rationality and Epistemic Injustice: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in the Discursive Legitimation of Artificial Intelligence

Ramos-Zaga F.A. · Revista Iberoamericana de Argumentacion (2026) · DOI: 10.15366/ria2026.32.005

Resumen

The expansion of artificial intelligence has been accompanied by a sociotechnical imaginary that attributes autonomous agency to computational systems, producing ontological distortions with profound epistemic and political consequences. Within this context, the present article offers a critical analysis of the sociotechnical imaginaries that legitimize artificial intelligence through discursive anthropomorphization, identifying their epistemic, political, and ontological effects, as well as their implications for the democratic governance of algorithmic technologies. The central finding reveals that such narratives are not neutral, but rather function as instruments of power that displace human judgment, entrench structures of inequality, and constrain democratic deliberation. Based on this diagnosis, the study argues that AI governance must move beyond technical frameworks to incorporate situated epistemologies, plural participation, and political imagination. In a context where the meaning of AI remains contested, this research calls for a reconstruction of the interpretative frameworks through which technologies are understood, making visible their material conditions and restoring the role of collective judgment in their design and regulation. © FERNANDO A. RAMOS-ZAGA.

Instituciones: Universidad Privada del Norte