Research Summary: Governing Artificial Intelligence as a Macro Socio-Technical Regime: The F-I-C-P Framework for Regime-Level AI Infrastructure and Governance

The paper introduces the F-I-C-P framework, conceptualising artificial intelligence as an emerging macro socio-technical regime driven by the interdependent dynamics of finance, infrastructure, capability, and productivity. It challenges conventional siloed perspectives by demonstrating that capital investment enables infrastructure, which in turn conditions technical capabilities, while productivity remains an unrealised possibility without proper structural alignment.

Why it matters

This framework provides decision-makers with a macro-level lens to understand that AI capability is strictly conditioned by upstream financing and physical infrastructure rather than software development alone. It clarifies why technological capability does not automatically convert into organizational or economic productivity, enabling more grounded capital allocation and governance strategies.

Key insights

• Current analyses often separate AI capability, adoption, and governance into isolated technical, organisational, or regulatory silos.
• The F-I-C-P framework demonstrates a causal chain where finance funds infrastructure, infrastructure dictates capability, and capability enables—but does not guarantee—productivity and value realization.
• The research introduces the concept of regime-level AI infrastructure to evaluate physical and systemic assets such as AI Gigafactories, foundation-model platforms, and national compute environments.

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.32985