This seminar explores how generative AI is reshaping the epistemic foundations of public administration. Drawing on comparative research in Australia, New Zealand, and Norway (forthcoming), Esther McVicar examines how governments are integrating AI into knowledge-intensive administrative work and the implications for expertise, accountability, transparency, and legitimacy. She argues that the critical governance challenge is not simply regulating AI, but understanding how AI-mediated knowledge production may transform the foundations of administrative authority itself.
Esther McVicar is a PhD research fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University, Canberra.