Minds at stake: Generative AI, epistemic power, and the competition for knowledge

Shahghasemi, Ehsan

doi:10.22059/jcss.2026.412464.1242

Minds at stake: Generative AI, epistemic power, and the competition for knowledge

Document Type : Editorial

Author

Ehsan Shahghasemi

Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

10.22059/jcss.2026.412464.1242

Abstract

The rapid diffusion of generative artificial intelligence as a primary interface for information-seeking has introduced a new and underexplored dimension of power in contemporary societies. As hundreds of millions of users worldwide increasingly turn to large language models for answers to everyday questions, the corporations that develop and deploy these systems have gained an unprecedented capacity to shape what people know, how they reason, and whose version of the world prevails. Drawing on Shoshana Zuboff's theory of surveillance capitalism and Michel Foucault's analytics of power/knowledge, this article argues that the competition among major technology firms in the generative AI sector is not merely commercial but fundamentally epistemic. Through a review of recent empirical data on AI adoption and a critical analysis of market concentration, the article demonstrates that a small number of corporate actors— operating with limited public accountability and considerable opacity— are consolidating control over the epistemic infrastructure of daily life. This concentration reproduces and deepens existing asymmetries of knowledge, raising urgent questions for democratic governance. The article concludes by calling for the reconceptualisation of AI information systems as public epistemic infrastructure, subject to transparency requirements, independent auditing, and democratic oversight.

Keywords

algorithmic authority

epistemic power

generative artificial intelligence

knowledge governance

surveillance capitalism

Subjects

humanities & social sciences

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