The Media Image of Artificial Intelligence in the Mass Political Imagination: Between the "Smart State" and the "Digital Leviathan"

Abstract

The article examines the media image of artificial intelligence as a significant element of the mass political imagination in the digital age. Its aim is to provide a political-science interpretation of the discursive frames through which AI becomes an object of public legitimation or criticism in the context of transformations in public administration, sovereignty, and civic autonomy. Methodologically, the study relies on political discourse analysis, frame analysis, and a conceptual interpretation of contemporary scholarship on algorithmic governance, public legitimacy, datafication, mediatization, and sociotechnical imaginaries. The article argues that, in contemporary public discourse, AI is primarily framed through two competing images: the "smart state" and the "digital Leviathan". The former associates AI with service efficiency, convenience, and managerial rationalization, whereas the latter foregrounds the opacity of digital power, asymmetries of data, hidden selection, and deficits of accountability. It is shown that the political significance of AI is determined less by its technical characteristics than by the normative regimes through which it is publicly interpreted. The article concludes that the legitimacy of digital governance depends on institutional limits placed on algorithmic power, clearly identifiable responsibility, procedural fairness, explainability, and the right to contest automated decisions.