Knowledge monopolies and the innovation divide: A governance perspective

This article proposes that artificial intelligence (AI) is positioned as a key driver of a new evolutionary stage of human knowledge, complementing human intelligence and facilitating the creation and development of sophisticated collective intelligence, defined as the noosphere, understood as the sphere of collective human thought. The study reveals several key insights into the transformative potential of AI, including its capacity to accelerate, mediate, and diffuse human knowledge. It concludes that AI not only catalyzes the existence of the noosphere but also redefines the structures and mechanisms through which human knowledge is expanded and democratized. Additionally, the document presents potential risks and significant ethical, social, and legal challenges of an AI-mediated noosphere, offering recommendations and a research agenda around the topic, and limitations and proposals for improvement to be considered in the future.

This study examines the AI investment (AII)-human well-being (HWBG) nexus contingent on governance indicators/dimensions within G-7 nations from 2012 to 2022 using the Cross-Sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) technique. Based on the results, policymakers should prioritize integrating AII into governance to boost HWBG in the short- and long-term. However, caution is needed when considering AII's interaction with institutional governance, as it didn't support HWBG. While AII and overall governance quality seem promising, it is vital to implement safeguards against potential negative effects stemming from the interaction between AII and institutional governance on HWBG.

Nowadays the pace of production and consumption is reaching environmentally unsustainable levels. In this regard, the great technological advances developed in recent years are postulated as a source of opportunities to boost the circular economy and sustainable development. This wide range of possibilities offered by new technologies to create a more sustainable reality has aroused the curiosity and interest of the academic world, especially in recent years. The main objective of this research is to reveal the main challenges and opportunities that arise when incorporating new technologies to the objectives of the circular economy. Regarding to the methodology, this study has been partially supported using bibliometric techniques. The results highlight the transformative role of new technologies, especially blockchain and artificial intelligence, in advancing the circular economy, with particular emphasis on the community and technology integration, ethical considerations, technological synergies, sustainable business models, and the burgeoning bioeconomy. We conclude that new technologies promise enhanced resource efficiency, optimized supply chains, innovative business models, and improved product lifecycle management, offering profound economic and environmental benefits while fostering sustainable consumption and collaborative innovation. However, these opportunities also represent the main challenges to address, such as integrating advanced production methods, ensuring supply chain transparency, overcoming the skill gap, avoiding data centralization, and adapting regulatory frameworks to foster equitable and sustainable growth. These are some of the most important areas for further research, especially those related to the development of employees' technological capabilities and the adaptation of regulatory frameworks, as they are understudied research gaps.