AI in the German Bundestag: On the relationship between the rhetoric of evidence-based policymaking and artificial intelligence

The paper explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), democracy, and the rhetoric of evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) within the context of the digital transformation. The case study focuses on the German Bundestag, investigating how Members of Parliament (MPs) discuss AI in their speeches and its relevance to policymaking. The theoretical framework combines insights from AI's potential impact on democratic processes, policy cycle research against the backdrop of the digital transformation, and the utilization of AI as a knowledge technology. The research employs qualitative content analysis of parliamentary debates in the 19th and 20th legislative periods, examining patterns of argumentation related to AI. The preliminary findings indicate that the connection between AI and evidence-based policymaking remains nascent in the German case yet and thus there is a remarkable gap between already existing technological capacity and its political reproduction.