This article examines how artificial intelligence (AI) disrupts the conceptual foundations of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). We argue that AI's ontolytic capacity-its ability to decompose and reconfigure established categories of authorship, cultural representation , and governance-renders conventional RRI frameworks inadequate. Focusing on generative AI's role in producing and distorting cultural identities, we demonstrate how the technology functions as both a mirror and an agent of societal values. The emergence of "na-tional AI" systems further complicates this landscape by embedding particular cultural and ideological commitments into technical infrastructures. We contend that RRI must evolve beyond its Western-centric origins. It can no longer limit itself to managing the impacts of a neutral technology but must now navigate a landscape where AI is simultaneously a subject of governance, an agent in the governance process, and a battleground for global cultural and political influence. The future of RRI lies in its ability to address this tripartite challenge, fostering mechanisms for genuine epistemic inclusion in a world where the very concept of responsibility is being digitally deconstructed.
Bylieva et al. (Wed,) studied this question.