Technological frames, CIOs, and Artificial Intelligence in public administration: A socio-cognitive exploratory study in Spanish local governments

Artificial Intelligence (AI) policies and strategies have been designed and adopted in the public sector during the last few years, with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) playing a key role. Using socio-cognitive and institutional approaches on Information Technologies (ITs) in (public) organizations, we consider that the assumptions, expectations, and knowledge (technological frames) of those in charge (CIOs) of designing AI strategies are guiding the future of these emerging systems in the public sector. In this study, we focus on the technological frames of CIOs in the largest Spanish local governments. Based on a survey administered to CIOs leading IT departments, this article presents original data about their technological frames on AI. Our results: (1) provide insights about how CIOs tend to focus on the technological features of AI implementation while often overlook some of the social, political, and ethical challenges in the public sector; (2) expand the theory on AI by enabling the construction of propositions and testable hypotheses for future research in the field. Therefore, the comparative study of technological frames will be key to successfully design and implement AI policies and strategies in the public sector and to tackle future challenges and opportunities.