From the VUCA Diagnosis to the Subject: Sustainable Agency and Public Policy Design in the Age of AI
Del diagnóstico VUCA al sujeto: agency sostenible y diseño de políticas públicas en la era de la IA
Do diagnóstico VUCA ao sujeito: agency sustentável e desenho de políticas públicas na era da IA
Abstract (en)
The environment the literature has termed VUCA —volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous— raises a question that usually goes unasked: what happens to the concrete citizen who must act with genuine intention in a world that fragments their attention, erodes their judgment, and offers to delegate what was previously undelegable? The article argues that the literature on governance in turbulent environments has theorized institutional adaptation while leaving out the subjective conditions of the citizen those institutions presuppose. It introduces the concept of sustainable agency —the capacity to remain a genuine author of one's own deliberative processes over time— and articulates it across four dimensions: somatic, attentional, narrative, and reflexive. It examines how artificial intelligence systems erode each of them, illustrates the process with Latin American evidence, and derives implications for democratic citizenship, adaptive governance, and public policy design.
Abstract (es)
El entorno que la literatura ha denominado VUCA —volátil, incierto, complejo y ambiguo— plantea una pregunta que suele quedar sin formular: ¿qué le ocurre al ciudadano concreto que debe actuar con intención propia en un mundo que fragmenta su atención, erosiona su juicio y le ofrece delegar lo que antes no podía delegarse? El artículo sostiene que la literatura sobre gobernanza en entornos turbulentos ha teorizado la adaptación institucional y ha dejado fuera las condiciones subjetivas del ciudadano que esas instituciones presuponen. Introduce el concepto de agency sostenible —la capacidad de mantenerse como autor genuino de los propios procesos deliberativos a lo largo del tiempo— y lo articula en cuatro dimensiones: somática, atencional, narrativa y reflexiva. Examina cómo los sistemas de inteligencia artificial erosionan cada una de ellas, ilustra el proceso con evidencia latinoamericana y deriva implicaciones para la ciudadanía democrática, la gobernanza adaptativa y el diseño de políticas públicas.
Abstract (pt_BR)
O ambiente que a literatura denominou VUCA —volátil, incerto, complexo e ambíguo— coloca uma pergunta que costuma ficar sem formulação: o que acontece com o cidadão concreto que deve agir com intenção genuína em um mundo que fragmenta sua atenção, corrói seu julgamento e lhe oferece delegar o que antes não podia ser delegado? O artigo sustenta que a literatura sobre governança em ambientes turbulentos teorizou a adaptação institucional e deixou de fora as condições subjetivas do cidadão que essas instituições pressupõem. Introduz o conceito de agency sustentável —a capacidade de permanecer autor genuíno dos próprios processos deliberativos ao longo do tempo— e o articula em quatro dimensões: somática, atencional, narrativa e reflexiva. Examina como os sistemas de inteligência artificial erodem cada uma delas, ilustra o processo com evidência latino-americana e deriva implicações para a cidadania democrática, a governança adaptativa e o desenho de políticas públicas.
References
Acemoglu, D., Kong, F. & Ozdaglar, A. (2026). AI, human cognition and knowledge collapse (NBER Working Paper n.º 34910). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w34910 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w34910
Ansell, C. & Torfing, J. (2021). Public governance as co-creation: A strategy for revitalizing the public sector. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108765381
Ansell, C., Sørensen, E. & Torfing, J. (2021). The COVID-19 pandemic as a game changer for public administration and leadership? The need for robust governance responses to turbulent problems. Public Management Review, 23(7), 949–960. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1820272 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1820272
Archer, M. S. (2012). The reflexive imperative in late modernity. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139108058
Aristóteles. (1985). Ética nicomáquea. Gredos.
Ashford, S. J. (2026). Angles on agency: A research life betting on human initiative and potential. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 13, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-020625-112038 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-020625-112038
Bastani, H., Bastani, O., Sungu, A., Ge, H., Kabakcı, Ö. & Mariman, R. (2025). Generative AI without guardrails can harm learning: Evidence from high school mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(26), e2422633122. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2422633122
Bengio, Y. et al. (2026). International AI Safety Report 2026. https://internationalaisafetyreport.org/publication/international-ai-safety-report-2026
Brady, W. J., Gantman, A. P. & Van Bavel, J. J. (2020). Attentional capture helps explain why moral and emotional content go viral. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(4), 746–757. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000673 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000673
Brady, W. J., Wills, J. A., Jost, J. T., Tucker, J. A. & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). Emotion shapes the diffusion of moralized content in social networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(28), 7313–7318. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1618923114 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1618923114
Brasil, Senado Federal. (2023). Projeto de Lei n.º 2338/2023: Marco legal da inteligência artificial. https://www25.senado.leg.br/web/atividade/materias/-/materia/157233
Buijsman, S., Carter, S. E. & Bermúdez, J. P. (2025). Autonomy by design: Preserving human autonomy in AI decision-support. Philosophy & Technology, 38(3), Artículo 97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00932-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-025-00932-2
Capano, G., Galanti, M. T., Ingold, K., Petridou, E. & Weible, C. M. (2025). Theorizing the functions and patterns of agency in the policymaking process. Policy Sciences, 58(1), 3–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-024-09563-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-024-09563-4
Chandra, K., Kleiman-Weiner, M., Ragan-Kelley, J. & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2026). Sycophantic chatbots cause delusional spiraling, even in ideal Bayesians [Preprint]. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.19141
Cheng, M., Lee, C., Khadpe, P., Yu, S., Han, D. & Jurafsky, D. (2026). Sycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependence. Science, 391(6792), eaec8352. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec8352 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aec8352
Chile, Ministerio Secretaría General de la Presidencia. (2024). Ley 21.719 que regula la protección y el tratamiento de los datos personales. Diario Oficial de la República de Chile. https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=1209272
Chu, Y., Oh, Y., Gwon, M. & otros. (2023). Dose-response analysis of smartphone usage and self-reported sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 19(3), 621–630. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.10392 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.10392
Colombia, Departamento Nacional de Planeación. (2025). Documento CONPES 4144: Política Nacional de Inteligencia Artificial. https://colaboracion.dnp.gov.co/CDT/Conpes/Econ%C3%B3micos/4144.pdf
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe. (2022). Los impactos sociodemográficos de la pandemia de COVID-19 en América Latina y el Caribe. https://repositorio.cepal.org/handle/11362/47922
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe. (2024). Panorama social de América Latina y el Caribe 2024. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/80858-panorama-social-america-latina-caribe-2024-desafios-la-proteccion-social
Comscore. (2024). Tendencias clave de Social Media 2024 en Latinoamérica. https://www.comscore.com/lat/Prensa-y-Eventos/Presentaciones-y-libros-blancos/2024/Tendencias-clave-de-Social-Media-2024-en-Latinoamerica
Consejo de Europa. (2024). Convenio Marco sobre Inteligencia Artificial y Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Estado de Derecho (CETS núm. 225). https://www.coe.int/en/web/conventions/full-list?module=treaty-detail&treatynum=225
Danaher, J. (2016). The threat of algocracy: Reality, resistance and accommodation. Philosophy & Technology, 29(3), 245–268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-015-0211-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-015-0211-1
Dunleavy, P. & Margetts, H. (2025). Data science, artificial intelligence and the third wave of digital era governance. Public Policy and Administration, 40(2), 185–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767231198737 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09520767231198737
Frankl, V. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. Beacon Press.
Gasser, U. & Mayer-Schönberger, V. (2024). Guardrails: Guiding human decisions in the age of AI. Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691256351
Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Polity Press.
Hackenburg, K. & Margetts, H. (2024). Evaluating the persuasive influence of political microtargeting with large language models. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(24), e2403116121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2403116121 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2403116121
Haggard, S. & Kaufman, R. (2021). Backsliding: Democratic regress in the contemporary world. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108957809 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108957809
Han, X., Zhou, E. & Liu, D. (2024). Electronic media use and sleep quality: Updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 26, e48356. https://www.jmir.org/2024/1/e48356 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2196/48356
Hinton, G. (2024, 10 de diciembre). Banquet speech. Nobel Prize in Physics 2024. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2024/hinton/speech/
Hopwood, N. & Sannino, A. (Eds.). (2023). Agency and transformation: Motives, mediation and motion. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009153799
Klingefjord, O., Lowe, R. & Edelman, J. (2024). What are human values, and how do we align AI to them? [Preprint]. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.10636
Koralus, P. (2025). The philosophic turn for AI agents: Replacing centralized digital rhetoric with decentralized truth-seeking. Mind & Society, 24, 563–586. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-025-00326-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-025-00326-z
Latinobarómetro. (2023). Informe Latinobarómetro 2023: La recesión democrática de América Latina. Corporación Latinobarómetro. https://www.latinobarometro.org/latContents.jsp
Lovett, A. & Zuehl, J. (2022). The possibility of democratic autonomy. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 50(4), 467–498. https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12223 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.12223
Margetts, H., Dorobantu, C. & Bright, J. (2024). How to build progressive public services with data science and artificial intelligence. The Political Quarterly, 95(4), 653–662. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13448 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13448
Mazzucato, M. (2021). Mission economy: A moonshot guide to changing capitalism. Allen Lane.
Mele, A. R. (2003). Motivation and agency. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/019515617X.001.0001
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). Phénoménologie de la perception. Gallimard.
Nature Reviews Bioengineering. (2025). Writing is thinking. Nature Reviews Bioengineering, 3, 431. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44222-025-00323-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-025-00323-4
Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Robertson, C. T., Ross Arguedas, A. & Nielsen, R. K. (2024). Reuters Institute digital news report 2024. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2024
Nussbaum, M. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061200
Organización Internacional del Trabajo. (2024). Perspectivas sociales y del empleo en el mundo: Tendencias 2024. OIT. https://researchrepository.ilo.org/esploro/outputs/report/995381293102676
Organización Panamericana de la Salud. (2023). Una nueva agenda para la salud mental en las Américas: Informe de la Comisión de Alto Nivel sobre Salud Mental y COVID-19. OPS. https://iris.paho.org/items/974b6e01-5c82-49f1-a2cb-bfa8b5a047b1
Organización para la Cooperación & el Desarrollo Económicos. (2024). OECD survey on drivers of trust in public institutions – 2024 results. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/9a20554b-en DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/9a20554b-en
Parlamento Europeo y Consejo de la Unión Europea. (2022). Reglamento (UE) 2022/2065 sobre un mercado único de servicios digitales (Ley de Servicios Digitales). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2065/oj?locale=es
Parlamento Europeo y Consejo de la Unión Europea. (2024). Reglamento (UE) 2024/1689 (Ley de Inteligencia Artificial). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/oj?locale=es
Persily, N. & Tucker, J. A. (Eds.). (2026). Artificial intelligence, politics, and political science. American Political Science Association. https://csmapnyu.org/research/academic-research/artificial-intelligence-politics-and-political-science DOI: https://doi.org/10.33774/apsa-2026-48s9j
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo. (2024). ¿En quién confiamos? Menos en las instituciones y más en las comunidades en ALC. https://www.undp.org/es/latin-america/blog/en-quien-confiamos-menos-en-las-instituciones-y-mas-en-las-comunidades-en-alc
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo. (2025). Fuertes por fuera, luchando por dentro: El deterioro de la salud mental en América Latina y el Caribe. https://www.undp.org/es/latin-america/blog/fuertes-por-fuera-luchando-por-dentro-el-deterioro-de-la-salud-mental-en-america-latina-y-el-caribe
Ricoeur, P. (1990). Soi-même comme un autre. Seuil.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Alfred A. Knopf.
Siebers, T., Beyens, I., Baumgartner, S. E. & Valkenburg, P. M. (2026). Adolescents’ digital nightlife: The comparative effects of day- and nighttime smartphone use on sleep quality. Communication Research, 53(5), 632–658. https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241276793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00936502241276793
Sunstein, C. R. (2026). Liberal AI (Harvard Public Law Working Paper). SSRN. https://ssrn.com/abstract=6251400 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6251400
Taylor, C. (1985). Human agency and language: Philosophical papers I. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173483
UNESCO. (2021). Recomendación sobre la ética de la inteligencia artificial. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381137_spa
UNESCO. (2025). Artificial intelligence and education: Preserving human agency in a world of automation. International Day of Education 2025. https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/medias/fichiers/2025/01/education-day-2025-cn-en_0.pdf
V-Dem Institute. (2024). Democracy report 2024: Democracy winning and losing at the ballot. Varieties of Democracy Institute. https://v-dem.net/publications/democracy-reports/
World Economic Forum. (2026). The global risks report 2026 (21.ª ed.). https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-risks-report-2026/digest/
Wu, W. (2023). Movements of the mind: A theory of attention, intention and action. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192866899.001.0001
Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism. PublicAffairs.
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Oscar Mauricio Covarrubias Moreno
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Los contenidos de la revista se distribuyen bajo la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC-4.0), que permite a los usuarios copiar, usar, difundir, transmitir y exponer públicamente los contenidos, siempre y cuando se cite la autoría (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0).