AI and the Economic and Informational Foundations of Democracy

Abstract

Abstract As has been the case for previous technological revolutions, AI will have economic and informational effects that may impact the nature and stability of democracy. In advanced democracies, AI may lead to economic transformations (such as a growing division between capital and high-skilled labor on the one hand and the rest of labor on the other, wage inequality, etc.) that may result in rising social tensions and democratic instability. However, a rise in productivity and overall growth plus the capacity of democratic governments to respond to those challenges may mitigate the negative effects of AI. AI’s effects are likely to be more strongly de-democratizing in emerging and peripheral economies. With fewer resources to adopt those new technologies, emerging and peripheral economies may be hit by the reshoring of production to advanced economies and fast deindustrialization. That may in turn reduce the kind of economic conditions (development, equality) that nurture democratic stability. AI’s economic effects may be compounded by the informational consequences of AI, which seem to reinforce the monitoring and repressive capabilities of states. After assessing the different channels through which AI could impact democracy, the chapter concludes by discussing a set of policy interventions to reconcile AI and democracy.