Normative Power Europe & AI: How the EU intends to normatively govern artificial intelligence technologies through the Artificial Intelligence Act and its “trustworthy” and “human-centric” approach

Abstract: Artificial intelligence is expected to be the next paradigm shift in technology, akin to the steam engine or electricity in its universality and all-encompassing impact. Regulating an innovation of this magnitude is important, however challenging, as evidenced by the European Union’s recently proposed Artificial Intelligence Act. This thesis sets out to understand the EU as a normative actor in the field of AI governance, specifically it applies the Normative Power Europe theory to the EU’s “human-centric” AI approach and aims to evaluate this self-claimed normativity. It accomplishes this by using a latent qualitative content analysis of 29 documents from official EU channels. The analysis indicates that the EU is indeed intending to act the way a normative power would, although with some significant limitations and incoherencies. However, these can be understood as childhood illnesses owing to the novelty of the EU’s approach. A Europe that has the ability to shape what passes as normal in AI governance will be a powerful Europe indeed.