Risk, Artificial Intelligence, and the Governance of Migration: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the EU AI Act

The EU AI Act represents one of the most ambitious regulatory frameworks to date, entailing policy regarding innovation, competitiveness, and the protection of fundamental rights. However, regulatory discourse surrounding AI is neither politically nor ideologically neutral. Through the employment of critical discourse analysis, this study explicates the discursive construction of “risk objects” within the EU AI Act, focusing on the dilemmatic rhetorical constructions regarding AI governance, human rights, and migration management. The analysis highlights that while the Act positions AI misuse as a primary threat to fundamental rights, it simultaneously frames migrants and refugees as high-risk subjects, legitimising AI applications within border control and migration governance and reproducing a discursive ideological dilemma. As a result, the Act employs securitisation rhetoric within rights-based governance frameworks, authorising algorithmic interventions that disproportionately target marginalised populations. The findings contribute to critical debates on AI governance by highlighting how risk-based regulatory frameworks function as instruments of power, reproducing existing sociopolitical asymmetries under the guise of harm prevention and ethical oversight within digital governance.