Essay by Preston Lee: “My generation has never experienced politics untouched by algorithms. Every election I have been old enough to follow has unfolded, at least in part, on social media. From Obama’s historic victory in 2008 to Trump’s unconventional win for a second term in 2024, these campaigns showed how political campaigns compete not only for votes but also for attention, likes, and shares.
Very few people today question whether artificial intelligence will affect elections. The debate has shifted from “if” to “how.” The more urgent question is how artificial intelligence will shape voters’ political habits, particularly through the spread of disingenuous disinformation and the rise of political apathy. If AI erodes public trust in the democratic system and convinces citizens that their participation no longer matters, it threatens election outcomes and the legitimacy of our democracy as a whole.
The root of a healthy democracy is shared ideals that allow disagreement to occur without undermining the system itself. Melissa De Witte, Deputy Director of Social Science Communications at Stanford, gathers perspectives from experts and conveys in her article how healthy democracies need discourse and disagreement. She speaks with Debra Satz, Dean of the Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences, and Paul Brest, Director of the Law & Policy Lab at Stanford Law School. Satz shares, “Disagreement can be a space that allows sharply different voices to be heard, but only when there are established processes and procedures in place to handle conflict when it arises and norms of openness, humility, and mutual respect.” Mutual trust bridges access and participation, and it is fundamental to democracy because, as defined by the Youth Democracy Cohort, our “democracy depends on participation,” and if trust deteriorates, cynicism increases while promoting political apathy. When people no longer trust or support these systems, where do they turn?
The most dangerous consequence of the rise of AI is that it may convince people that there is no point in making their own decisions in the first place. Artificial intelligence has created a world where information can be broadly distributed, but it can also be manipulated for political persuasion. Now, speeches can be written in seconds, and political conversations can be generated to mimic the voices of political figures, without direct human participation. Its rapid advancements have created an environment in which citizens question the authenticity of information, leading to disengagement across the nation. Yet, when 81% of Americans feel that crucial election content will be rife with misinformation because of artificial intelligence, it becomes increasingly hard to trust the integrity of democracy…(More)”.
