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How AI Startups Resist Framings in AI Regulation Discourse : A Critical Discourse Analysis of the European Union and the United States
Exenberger, Luca (2025) How AI Startups Resist Framings in AI Regulation Discourse : A Critical Discourse Analysis of the European Union and the United States.
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| Abstract: | This thesis investigates how AI startups in the European Union and the United States resist dominant regulatory framings within emerging AI governance discourse. While policymakers often portray startups as high-risk actors requiring strict oversight, startups construct counter-discourses that emphasize innovation, ethical responsibility, and their strategic role in national competitiveness. Grounded in Vivien Schmidt’s Discursive Institutionalism and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study analyzes 16 key policy documents and startup communications, complemented by an expert interview. It finds that EU regulatory discourse is characterized by moralized, obligation-driven language, whereas U.S. policy leans toward flexible, innovation-oriented framing. In both regions, startups are frequently discursively flattened—grouped under generic terms that obscure their unique needs. Startups resist these portrayals through rhetorical strategies like burden language, calls for proportionality, and claims to policy participation. They reframe themselves as ethical innovators and indispensable contributors to national innovation ecosystems. The thesis reveals that regulation is not only a technical issue but a discursive struggle over meaning and legitimacy. By identifying how ideational power operates in AI governance, this research highlights the need for more inclusive, startup-sensitive regulatory frameworks that avoid reinforcing structural inequalities while maintaining democratic oversight and ethical integrity. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 88 social and public administration |
| Programme: | Management Society and Technology BSc (56654) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/107887 |
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