The Promise of Collective Intelligence: Communicative–Inferential Coordination Across Collective Systems

Abstract

In this essay, I propose a systems-theoretical and inferential perspective on collective intelligence. Drawing on cybernetics, systems theory, and recent research on AI-supported collective reasoning, I argue that collective intelligence depends on the conditions under which communication, interpretation, and coordination become possible across hierarchical levels. Consequently, the article discusses the conceptualization of collective intelligence as communicative-inferential coordination across collective systems. It further examines how AI-based infrastructures increasingly shape these boundary conditions and discusses the resulting epistemic, organizational, and ethical challenges for collective adaptation and societal communication and coordination.