New paper out “The Algorithmic Hand: Artificial Intelligence, Democracy, and Collective Action at Scale”
Every few decades, a new technology promises to reinvent democracy. The optical telegraph. The telephone. Cable TV. The Internet. Now #AI. The pattern is remarkably consistent: enthusiasm, then disappointment.
My new policy paper asks whether AI-enabled deliberation can break that cycle, or whether it’s headed for the same graveyard.
The uncomfortable argument: deliberative democracy hasn’t scaled not because the technology wasn’t ready, but because those with the power to fund it have little interest in outcomes that might challenge their influence. Corporations don’t sponsor citizen assemblies on pharmaceutical pricing.
The hopeful argument: AI might change the economics of collective action itself. Not by making deliberation bigger, but by making it harder to ignore. Lowering coordination costs for citizens while raising the costs of institutional non-response.
The honest admission: deliberative democrats (myself included) find it easier to design technical systems than build political movements. No algorithm substitutes for that work.
This is very much work in progress, so thoughts, pushback, and criticisms are more than welcome.