Digital mediations and artificial intelligence in the social appropriation of scientific knowledge: a case study of Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano (Ecuador)

Abstract

This article analyzes the science communication practices deployed by the Instituto Tecnológico Bolivariano (ITB) in Guayaquil, Ecuador, during the period 2023-2026, with particular attention to the digital mediations and institutional uses of generative artificial intelligence involved in the social appropriation of scientific knowledge. Using a qualitative approach that combines institutional case study with the systematization of experiences, the technical, editorial, and pedagogical components of the ITB's digital ecosystem are characterized —comprising the journal Identidad Bolivariana, Moodle platforms, academic social networks, and AI devices applied to content curation and translation— and a critical reflection is offered on the ethical, epistemological, and equity tensions that emerge when algorithmic mediations are inserted into a technical institution in the Global South. Findings show that the incorporation of generative AI optimizes editorial timelines and democratizes linguistic access, but introduces risks of discursive homogenization and displacement of expert human mediation. It is concluded that Latin American technological institutes can become strategic laboratories for rethinking science communication in the age of artificial intelligence, provided that a critical perspective is maintained that recognizes both the potentialities and the structural inequalities that condition them.