Artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging at a time of complex societal crises. Governments around the world face the mounting specter of social and environmental change while navigating polarized politics and declining institutional trust. AI has been promoted by governments, consultants, and techno-optimists as a novel opportunity to improve and capacitize governance, deepening a longstanding commitment to technocratic and evidence-based policymaking through sophisticated tools for gathering and analyzing data. At the same time, social advocates are calling for AI to shed inherent biases and promote equity. This article discusses injustices in the design and operation of AI systems, and how the techno-optimist narrative hides them while doubling down on failed policy logics. A conceptual framework illustrates the ways in which AI garners political legitimacy and replicates embedded power structures by optimizing rather than questioning anachronistic and exploitive policy epistemics. The article concludes by discussing how these tensions point to the need for deeper societal reflection in confronting existential crises.

https://shs.cairn.info/journal-gestion-et-management-public-2026-2-page-11?lang=en

Hartley, Kris and Kuecker, Glen. (2026). “The injustice of AI for social justice: a critical-theoretical perspective.” Gestion et Management Public, 14(2): 11-26.