Artificial Intelligence and European Identity: The European Commission’s Struggle for Reconciliation

The European Commission (EC) has recently developed its AIstrategy which aims to develop and mobilize for a Europeanversion of AI. This article seeks to generate an in-depthunderstanding of how the EC frames its AI version as distinctivelyEuropean. A frame and content analysis methodology is used forunderstanding how the EC struggles to reconcile AI andEuropean identity. European identity consists of Europeanhistorical narratives, different societal and political purposes andvalues. It is found that the EC seeks to legitimize the European AIalternative through beneficial outputs and narratives based onhistoric technological leadership and that via framing practicesthe EC tries to foster European integration. This paper concludesthat the EC’s communication efforts are inconsistent and mightnot be sufficient to generate trust in AI among the European public.