Understanding the promises and perils that AI holds for the future of our democracy
Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, GETTING-Plurality, Reimagining Democracy Program
The proliferation of artificial intelligence has the potential to upend our democracy — for better or worse.
AI tools could allow for new forms of participation while at the same time facilitating the spread of misinformation. As regulators and policymakers struggle to understand the implications of this new technology, Ash Center experts are answering questions about how best to govern AI and not just reactively respond to the many issues that continue to arise.
Can AI be a force for good in our democracy? How do we prevent it from becoming a tool for those who wish to undermine our institutions and trust?
Explore our latest events, research, and writing below.
Commentary
When is it time to start worrying about artificial intelligence interfering in our democracy? Maybe when an AI writes a letter to The New York Times opposing the regulation of its own technology.
Q+A
In a new book, Bruce Schneier details how tricks, exploitations, and loopholes are benefiting those in power — and how a ‘hacking’ mindset can help us set things right.
Digital humanism highlights the complex relationships between people, society, nature, and machines. It has been embraced by a growing community of individuals and groups who are setting directions that may change current paradigms. Here we focus on the initiatives generated by the Vienna Manifesto.
Commentary
“… for all the consternation over the potential for humans to be replaced by machines in formats like poetry and sitcom scripts, a far greater threat looms: artificial intelligence replacing humans in the democratic processes — not through voting, but through lobbying.”
Commentary
There isn’t much we can agree on these days. But two sweeping statements that might garner broad support are “We need to fix technology” and “We need to fix democracy.”
Policy Brief
This report explores the potential of bridging and discusses some of the most common objections, addressing questions around legitimacy and practicality.
Commentary
Fixating on the degree—rather than the type—of decentralization is leading us astray.
Policy Brief
Researchers and funders should redirect focus from centralized autonomous general intelligence to a plurality of established and emerging approaches that extend cooperative and augmentative traditions as seen in successes such as Taiwan’s digital democracy project to collective intelligence platforms like Wikipedia.
When AI is seen as a source of truth and scientific knowledge, it may lend public legitimacy to harmful ideas about identity.