Artificial Intelligence as an object of sociological inquiry

Abstract

This article seeks to conceptualize artificial intelligence as an object of sociological inquiry, with a focus on its contemporary technological manifestations. It highlights two key features of AI technologies: agency and technical opacity. The article proposes an analytical perspective in which the expert emphasis on transparency and XAI is contrasted with the everyday experience of users who primarily encounter the agency of these technologies. It concludes by arguing for the need to further study AI agency and to adapt core categories of social sciences – power, justice, and trust – to new socio-technical configurations of AI.