Artificial Intelligence as a Lever or Threat for Democracy

Abstract

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming contemporary societies and presents significant challenges for democratic governance. AI systems can be deployed to generate deceptive content and to identify susceptible audiences and effective channels of dissemination (Bontridder & Poullet, 2021). Recommender systems may further amplify polarizing or radical narratives, reinforcing echo chambers and information silos. AI enabled disinformation can undermine public health and social cohesion, fostering prejudice, climate change denial, the legitimation of violence, and declining trust in democratic institutions. In this sense, AI can become a powerful instrument in the hands of populist or authoritarian leaders. Beyond information manipulation, increasing reliance on AI generated outputs risks eroding civic and political agency, weakening public deliberation and the ideal of autonomous choice. AI also exacerbates structural power asymmetries by disproportionately empowering actors who control data and computational infrastructures. Opaque and proprietary systems, often subject to limited regulatory oversight, may entrench biases and privilege private interests over the public good. Moreover, the concentration of AI development within a small number of corporations—primarily based in the United States and China—raises concerns regarding democratic sovereignty and pluralism. At the same time, AI may contribute positively to democratic practice if appropriately governed. It can support evidence based policymaking, enhance policy impact assessment, and improve the detection of corruption and inefficiency (Wirtz, Weyerer, & Geyer, 2019). AI can also lower barriers to information access and promote inclusion through translation and accessibility tools. Finally, AI driven data analysis may strengthen accountability by enabling journalists and civil society organizations to conduct more effective democratic scrutiny and to counter misinformation and disinformation (Benzie & Montasari, 2022; Montoro Montarroso et al., 2023). AI is also a powerful tool to monitor and analyze different dimensions of democracy and contribute to identify problems and strategies to overcome them. This panel invites contributions that examine the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on governance and assess whether it can be used to prevent—or alternatively accelerate—processes of democratic erosion and autocratization.

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