Framing AI in public innovation: the engagement-manipulation nexus

AI integration into public service innovation creates a paradox: promising enhanced engagement while risking manipulation. This paper develops the Engagement-Manipulation Nexus, a conceptual framework using Framing Theory to analyse this tension. We adapt Framing Theory to the algorithmic era, arguing AI is both an object to be framed and an agent disseminating frames. AI innovation trajectories are forged through communicative struggles among actors deploying competing frames. This paper contributes a novel theoretical framework, theorizes public innovation as communicatively constructed, and provides a diagnostic tool for practitioners. Critical frame awareness is essential for steering AI towards public value and democratic governance.