Constituting AI-Enabling Organizations: Legitimation Through AI Principles

Abstract

As artificial intelligence (AI) adoption accelerates, organizations must communicate its role, value, and governance to diverse stakeholders. A common response is to “get principled” and create AI principles that respond to stakeholder demands for transparent, fair, ethical, explainable, and safe AI use, while fostering employees’ AI adoption. Based on 99 publicly available AI principles from FT Global 500 companies, this study examines how large corporations use these texts as institutional messages that declare organizational beliefs and rules for AI use. We examine how they legitimize and position organizations as AI enablers. The analysis shows that AI principles function as strategic business communication that blends ethical commitments, socio-technical safeguards, and stakeholder value propositions. The study contributes to discussions on institutional theory, organizational communication, and AI governance by explaining how governance-related corporate texts construct legitimacy and organizational identity amid technological change in contemporary global corporate communication.