Pluralism in AI Governance: Toward Sociotechnical Alignment and Normative Coherence

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Nkongolo, Mike Wa
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Nkongolo, Mike Wa
author_facet Nkongolo, Mike Wa
contents This paper examines the challenge of embedding public values into national artificial intelligence (AI) governance frameworks, a task complicated by the sociotechnical nature of contemporary systems. As AI permeates domains such as healthcare, justice, and public administration, legitimacy depends not only on technical correctness but on alignment with societal norms, democratic principles, and human dignity. Traditional paradigms focused on model safety or market efficiency neglect broader institutional contexts. To address this, the study synthesises frameworks including Full-Stack Alignment, Thick Models of Value, Value Sensitive Design, and Public Constitutional AI, alongside comparative analysis of jurisdictions such as the EU, US, China, UK, Brazil, and South Africa (SA). It introduces a layered framework linking values, mechanisms, and strategies, and maps tensions such as fairness versus efficiency, transparency versus security, and privacy versus equity. Findings reveal a pluralism of regulatory philosophies, with SA sovereignty-oriented approach offering a distinctive counterpoint. The study contributes a holistic, value-sensitive model of AI governance, reframing regulation as a proactive mechanism for embedding public values into sociotechnical systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_15881
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Pluralism in AI Governance: Toward Sociotechnical Alignment and Normative Coherence
Nkongolo, Mike Wa
Computers and Society
This paper examines the challenge of embedding public values into national artificial intelligence (AI) governance frameworks, a task complicated by the sociotechnical nature of contemporary systems. As AI permeates domains such as healthcare, justice, and public administration, legitimacy depends not only on technical correctness but on alignment with societal norms, democratic principles, and human dignity. Traditional paradigms focused on model safety or market efficiency neglect broader institutional contexts. To address this, the study synthesises frameworks including Full-Stack Alignment, Thick Models of Value, Value Sensitive Design, and Public Constitutional AI, alongside comparative analysis of jurisdictions such as the EU, US, China, UK, Brazil, and South Africa (SA). It introduces a layered framework linking values, mechanisms, and strategies, and maps tensions such as fairness versus efficiency, transparency versus security, and privacy versus equity. Findings reveal a pluralism of regulatory philosophies, with SA sovereignty-oriented approach offering a distinctive counterpoint. The study contributes a holistic, value-sensitive model of AI governance, reframing regulation as a proactive mechanism for embedding public values into sociotechnical systems.
title Pluralism in AI Governance: Toward Sociotechnical Alignment and Normative Coherence
topic Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.15881