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The Artificial in “Artificial Intelligence” : How Imagination Shapes AI Regulation

Novelli, Claudio ; Floridi, Luciano ; Larsson, Stefan LU ; Taddeo, Mariarosaria and Winter, Steven L (2026) In US law review
Abstract
Much of the hype about AI exploits the fact that human cognition, language, and categorization rely on imaginative scaffolding. Some degree of metaphor and conceptual borrowing should not be seen as a methodological failure. Law does not meet AI as a blank slate. It reaches for metaphors and other imaginative patterns that make the unfamiliar legible, channeling attention toward certain features and away from others. These are not superficial rhetorical devices, but imaginative patterns that do real work: They frame risks, allocate authority, and steer doctrinal development. The paper uses cognitive linguistics to trace how imaginative patterns structure the regulatory agenda and create path dependence. It concentrates on three especially... (More)
Much of the hype about AI exploits the fact that human cognition, language, and categorization rely on imaginative scaffolding. Some degree of metaphor and conceptual borrowing should not be seen as a methodological failure. Law does not meet AI as a blank slate. It reaches for metaphors and other imaginative patterns that make the unfamiliar legible, channeling attention toward certain features and away from others. These are not superficial rhetorical devices, but imaginative patterns that do real work: They frame risks, allocate authority, and steer doctrinal development. The paper uses cognitive linguistics to trace how imaginative patterns structure the regulatory agenda and create path dependence. It concentrates on three especially influential conceptions that circulate across technical, legal, and public discourse: (artificial) intelligence, black box, and hallucinations. “Intelligence” invites personification and prototype effects that lead to misplaced assumptions about agency and intention. “Black box” turns a distributed sociotechnical system into a metaphoric bounded container, misleadingly focusing concerns about transparency and responsibility on the model abstracted from its development and implementation. “Hallucinations” imports from psycho-pathology an inappropriate frame which obscures the fact that many errors are foreseeable products of intentional choices. We suggest, instead, reframing them as deferential hazards that arise from design features and expected interactional dynamics. (Less)
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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
submitted
subject
keywords
AI, the artificial in AI, imagination and regulation, metaphor, human cognition, imaginative patterns, conceptual path dependence, sociotechnical systems, black box, hallucinations
in
US law review
pages
39 pages
project
COPY.AI: Preserving Intellectual Property and Cultural Diversity in the Age of Generative AI
The AI Welfare State
The Automated Administration: Governance of ADM in the public sector
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
543e17ad-5096-455a-b496-0a850576286f
alternative location
https://philpapers.org/rec/NOVTAI-2
date added to LUP
2026-02-23 10:16:49
date last changed
2026-02-23 12:07:17
@article{543e17ad-5096-455a-b496-0a850576286f,
  abstract     = {{Much of the hype about AI exploits the fact that human cognition, language, and categorization rely on imaginative scaffolding. Some degree of metaphor and conceptual borrowing should not be seen as a methodological failure. Law does not meet AI as a blank slate. It reaches for metaphors and other imaginative patterns that make the unfamiliar legible, channeling attention toward certain features and away from others. These are not superficial rhetorical devices, but imaginative patterns that do real work: They frame risks, allocate authority, and steer doctrinal development. The paper uses cognitive linguistics to trace how imaginative patterns structure the regulatory agenda and create path dependence. It concentrates on three especially influential conceptions that circulate across technical, legal, and public discourse: (artificial) intelligence, black box, and hallucinations. “Intelligence” invites personification and prototype effects that lead to misplaced assumptions about agency and intention. “Black box” turns a distributed sociotechnical system into a metaphoric bounded container, misleadingly focusing concerns about transparency and responsibility on the model abstracted from its development and implementation. “Hallucinations” imports from psycho-pathology an inappropriate frame which obscures the fact that many errors are foreseeable products of intentional choices. We suggest, instead, reframing them as deferential hazards that arise from design features and expected interactional dynamics.}},
  author       = {{Novelli, Claudio and Floridi, Luciano and Larsson, Stefan and Taddeo, Mariarosaria and Winter, Steven L}},
  keywords     = {{AI; the artificial in AI; imagination and regulation; metaphor; human cognition; imaginative patterns; conceptual path dependence; sociotechnical systems; black box; hallucinations}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  series       = {{US law review}},
  title        = {{The Artificial in “Artificial Intelligence” : How Imagination Shapes AI Regulation}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/243037940/Novelli_Floridi_Larsson_Taddeo_Winter_2026_The_Artificial_in_Artificial_Intelligence_How_Imagination_Shapes_AI_Regulation.pdf}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}