Can Democracy Survive AI?
Digital technology was supposed to disperse power. Early internet visionaries hoped that the revolution they were unleashing would empower individuals to free themselves from ignorance, poverty, and tyranny. And for a while, at least, it did.
But today, ever-smarter algorithms increasingly predict and shape our every choice, enabling unprecedentedly effective forms of centralised, unaccountable surveillance and control. That means the coming artificial intelligence (AI) revolution may render closed political systems more stable than open ones. In an age of rapid change, transparency, plural...