How AI is imagined by industry during the Sam Altman controversy
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The aim of this research is to reconstruct how to, both methodologically and conceptually, reassemble AI imaginaries and how to evaluate their performativity. This paper does so empirically by tracking the doing of AI issues (AI issuefication) across X/Twitter and LinkedIn. The scene of the competition is the clash of AI agendas and imaginaries caused by the controversy around the firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO. By employing issue mapping and digital methods to locate contemporary AI imaginaries, we assess their salience in a cross-platform perspective and describe the stakes gleaned from the prominence of certain dominant framings through AI issuefication. We introduce the notion of AI industry's premediation and preclusion of issues from imaginaries, the two ways through which the AI industry tries to occupy the future and absorb the present; with this research, we join with others on this argument and contribute by demonstrating it empirically.
Source: New Media & Society
Authors: Natalia Stanusch, Richard Rogers
Institution: University of Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Safety Research
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
OpenAlex ID: W7128741349