Claims of AI undermining democracy are dystopian
Landemore 23—Helene Landemore is a professor of political science at Yale University and an advisor to the Democratic Inputs to AIprogram at OpenAI. “AI can enhance democratic institutions by ensuring citizens’ voices are truly heard” International Monetary Fund, 12/2023. https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2023/12/POV-Fostering-more-inclusive-democracy-with-AI-Landemore | AC
People worry that artificial intelligence (AI) is, or will soon be, undermining democracy. They fear AI will take away jobs, destabilize the economy, and widen the divide between the rich and the poor. This could further concentrate power in the hands of a few tech companies and weaken government structures designed to regulate them. Some also fear that tech giants and government may increasingly delegate human decision-making to machines, eventually replacing democracy with “algocracy,” rule not by the people but by algorithm.
This dystopian vision misses our current capacity to shape AI development. We, as human societies, have the political ability (at least for now) and the responsibility to address the harm AI could inflict on us. We also have the technological opportunity to harness AI to enhance our democracy in a way that strengthens our collective ability to govern—rather than simply regulate—AI.
Like other ethical and political challenges, such as gene editing, AI governance requires not just more expert intervention and regulation but more citizen voice and input—for example, on how to navigate the distributive impact of AI on the economy. Like other global concerns, such as climate change, AI governance requires this democratic voice to be heard at the level of international institutions. Luckily, AI has the potential to usher in a more inclusive, participatory, and deliberative form of democracy, including at the global scale.