Since the release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 at the latest, artificial intelligence (AI) has been omnipresent. Yet our lifeworld has for some time been increasingly permeated by AI and dependent on it, from the everyday AI in smartphones to AI in medical diagnostics, industrial manufacturing and production, text generation, video surveillance and so on. In public discourse, in the media and in scientific publications there is constant talk of the rapid development of AI, of the great changes it brings for society and for the individual, of its "opportunities", "challenges" and "risks" – and "critical reflection" is called for in slogan-like fashion. Such stock phrases also reveal something of the sense of being overwhelmed and helpless in the face of a development that is chaotic and disruptive, not least because it is driven above all by profit and markets; accordingly disparate and controversial are the interests, goals and projects surrounding AI.

There is an AI boom all around, a mood of departure, hopes, expectations, utopias, dystopias, fears, doomsday scenarios and so on. Governments, companies, universities and others all want to be part of the game; AI is becoming a key factor in the economy and in education. But AI is also perceived as an impenetrable black box; not many people know how it works, and no one knows where it will develop. There are many uncertainties, concerns and fears, for example with regard to data protection, surveillance, control, manipulation, disinformation, deepfakes, propaganda and so on. In addition, the AI market is clearly tending towards privatization, deregulation and volatility, pushed by the new US administration. And the dot on the "i" of AI is placed by the high-tech billionaire and hobby politician Elon Musk, who announces that so-called Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), an intensification of AI, will be more intelligent than the most intelligent human being as early as 2025 – which would in any case presumably also mean: more intelligent than the protagonists of the current US administration.