The Impact Of Advanced Ai Systems On Democracy

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Dec 6, 2025, 10:29 AM

the impact of advanced ai systems on democracy

Nature Human Behaviour (2025)Cite this article Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of generating humanlike text and multimodal content are now widely available. Here we ask what impact this will have on the democratic process. We consider the consequences of AI for citizens’ ability to make educated and competent choices about political representatives and issues (epistemic impacts). We explore how AI might be used to destabilize or support the mechanisms, including elections, by which democracy is implemented (material impacts). Finally, we discuss whether AI will strengthen or weaken the principles on which democracy is based (foundational impacts).

The arrival of new AI systems clearly poses substantial challenges for democracy. However, we argue that AI systems also offer new opportunities to educate and learn from citizens, strengthen public discourse, help people to find common ground, and reimagine how democracies might work better. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription Advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems capable of generating humanlike text and multimodal content are now widely available.

Here we ask what impact this will have on the democratic process. We consider the consequences of AI for citizens' ability to make educated and competent choices about political representatives and issues (epistemic impacts). We explore how AI might be used to destabilize or support the mechanisms, including elections, by which democracy is implemented (material impacts). Finally, we discuss whether AI will strengthen or weaken the principles on which democracy is based (foundational impacts). The arrival of new AI systems clearly poses substantial challenges for democracy. However, we argue that AI systems also offer new opportunities to educate and learn from citizens, strengthen public discourse, help people to find common ground, and reimagine how democracies might work better.

Competing interests: The following authors are full- or part-time remunerated employees of commercial developers of AI technology: M. Bakker, I.G., N.M., M.H.T. and M. Botvinick (Google DeepMind), E.D. and D.G. (Anthropic) and T.E.

(OpenAI), A.P. (Fundamental AI Research (FAIR), Meta). C.S. and K.H. are part-time remunerated government employees (at the UK AI Security Institute). D.S.

and S.H. are employees of the non-profit organization Collective Intelligence Project. A.O. is an employee of the AI & Democracy Foundation. E.S. is an employee of Demos.

None of these employers had any role in the preparation of the manuscript or the decision to publish. The remaining authors declare no competing interests. You have full access to this open access article When discussing the impact of AI on democracy, the debate predominantly centers on its potential threats, such as misinformation and polarization. However, the role of AI in addressing the democratic crisis is more nuanced. This paper examines three ways that AI might impact the crisis of democracy and discusses the conditions for which these scenarios are more likely to materialize.

Firstly, AI could exacerbate this crisis by degrading the public sphere, exacerbating authoritarian rule and increasing power asymmetries. Second, AI could alleviate some aspects of the crisis of democracy by improving public services, rationalizing public debate, or paving the way for new forms of collective participation. Thirdly, AI could overcome this crisis by paving the way for new forms of government beyond the current representative systems. If AI will exacerbate, alleviate, or overcome the crisis of democracy will depend not just on AI itself, but rather on the complex sociotechnical relationship between technology and the cultural, social, economic, legal, and... Therefore, we should avoid an essentialist perspective that consider “democracy” and “AI” as givens and embrace a more sociotechnical perspective that looks at how these two elements mutually influence each other. Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Numerous scholars have debated the impact of digital technology on society and political systems. Recently, pessimistic and more critical perspectives have gained prominence, extending beyond academic and intellectual circles. In the United States, 78% of the population distrusts big tech companies, and 64% believe that social media has negatively impacted society, with only 10% perceiving its impact as positive [112]. Artificial intelligence is no exception. Concerns about this technology have grown in recent years, with 52% of U.S. citizens expressing more worry than excitement about AI, compared to just 10% who feel the opposite [111].

The debate over what constitutes artificial intelligence is vast and cannot be fully addressed here. Many scholars argue that comparisons with human intelligence are misleading, primarily because AI applications operate in fundamentally different ways from the human mind. [20, 45]. As Luciano Floridi suggested [25], AI is a “shortcut” for generically referring to different disciplines, services and products. Therefore, a monolithic definition risks being misleading. However, we can embrace an internationally recognized working definition such as that proposed by the OECD, which claims that:

Nicol Turner Lee, Joseph B. Keller, Cameron F. Kerry, Aaron Klein, Anton Korinek, Mark MacCarthy, Mark Muro, Chinasa T. Okolo, Courtney C. Radsch, John Villasenor, Darrell M. West, Tom Wheeler, Andrew W.

Wyckoff, Rashawn Ray, Mishaela Robison Melanie W. Sisson, Colin Kahl, Sun Chenghao, Xiao Qian Norman Eisen, Renée Rippberger, Jonathan Katz When Facebook launched in 2004, it took 10 months to reach 1 million users. Twitter took two years.

Spotify took five months, and Instagram took 2.5 months. When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it reached 1 million users in five days. One year later, the large-language model (LLM) generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot had 100 million weekly users. As of March, that number is 500 million. “AI algorithms are becoming more powerful and affordable,” said Shir Raviv, a postdoctoral research fellow at Columbia University and a nonresident fellow with ISPS’s Democratic Innovations program. “Millions of people now use these tools daily, reshaping how citizens access and process information, communicate with elected officials, organize politically, and participate in society.

The stakes and implications of this technology for democracy are far-reaching.” Earlier this month, Raviv organized a conference bringing together a diverse group of scholars to explore the various ways in which AI and democracy increasingly intersect: the challenges AI poses to democratic processes, effective... Democratic Innovations aims to identify and test new ideas for improving the quality of democratic representation and governance. UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, adopted by all Member States in November 2021, is the first global policy framework for artificial intelligence (AI) and outlines different aspects of this technology that... The initial considerations of the Recommendation outline the potential ramifications of AI across diverse domains, notably its implications for democracy. This report builds on these analyses and recommendations, aligning with the core values and principles outlined in the Recommendation.

It delves into the current and potential impact of artificial intelligence on democracy and the benefits that both artificial intelligence and digitalization, in general, could bring to enhancing collective decision-making processes. This analysis is structured around four key topics: Finally, this report offers recommendations for the democratic governance of artificial intelligence aimed at mitigating neative impacts and fostering a more democratic approach to AI governance. Professor of Public Policy, James Bryant Conant University Professor Director, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government Professor of the Practice of Public Policy, HKS; Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, SEAS

Creating a healthy digital civic infrastructure ecosystem means not just deploying technology for the sake of efficiency, but thoughtfully designing tools built to enhance democratic engagement from connection to action. Public engagement has long been too time-consuming and costly for governments to sustain, but AI offers tools to make participation more systematic and impactful. Our new Reboot Democracy Workshop Series replaces lectures with hands-on sessions that teach the practical “how-to’s” of AI-enhanced engagement. Together with leading practitioners and partners at InnovateUS and the Allen Lab at Harvard, we’ll explore how AI can help institutions tap the collective intelligence of our communities more efficiently and effectively.

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Competing Interests: The Following Authors Are Full- Or Part-time Remunerated

(OpenAI), A.P. (Fundamental AI Research (FAIR), Meta). C.S. And K.H.

(OpenAI), A.P. (Fundamental AI Research (FAIR), Meta). C.S. and K.H. are part-time remunerated government employees (at the UK AI Security Institute). D.S.