BEYOND FAUST AND HYPE: ON IMAGINARIES AND NARRATIVES IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Abstract

The article critically analyzes the imaginaries, narratives, and political disputes surrounding contemporary artificial intelligence, proposing a reading that goes beyond both technoutopian enthusiasm and dystopian alarmism. Drawing on references from cybernetics, the sociology of technology, and political economy, the text examines large-scale language models as technical devices that operate fundamentally through the statistical recombination of language, questioning the notions of intelligence, autonomy, and neutrality associated with these technologies. The debate over so-called “stochastic parrots” is linked to transformations in cognitive labor, controversies over copyright, and the material and exploitative conditions that underpin AI production. The article also discusses the role of hype and technological animism in the consolidation of ideologies such as TESCREAL, as well as the geopolitical impacts of AI, disputes over semiconductors, and regulatory conflicts expressed in the European AI Act. By mobilizing the metaphor of the “black box,” the text emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary and critical approaches capable of politically re-enchanting technology, opening space to imagine alternative forms of governance, production, and use of artificial intelligence oriented toward social, environmental, and democratic justice.