City Research Online

Abstract

Policy documents guide technological transformations. Prior research on national artificial intelligence (AI) strategies has examined how these texts articulate governance values and principles, but how they promote identification, urgency, and action is less well understood. This gap is especially striking given arguments that national AI strategies are typically written for policy professionals. We show that these documents are also widely used as publicly accessible reference points in debates on responsible AI. Building on the narrative turn in public policy scholarship, we analyse 22 European national AI strategies. We find that AI strategies create normative entrainment through affect, constituted by three narratives: (1) establishing normative orientations by ascribing societal values to AI; (2) anchoring these orientations by invoking social emotions that embed AI in cultural identity and everyday life; and (3) promoting implementation by juxtaposing moral emotions such as fear and hope while mobilising urgency, leadership, and responsibility. By specifying how emotional narratives are woven into policy texts, this framework contributes to research on the communicative construction of AI policy and offers implications for responsible digital transformation.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2026. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Publisher Keywords:	artificial intelligence; emotions; national strategies; narratives; policy documents
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform J Political Science Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	Bayes Business School Bayes Business School > Faculty of Management
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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