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This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
In July, I wrote about my new book project on AI and democracy, to be published by MIT Press in fall 2025. My co-author and collaborator Nathan Sanders and I are hard at work writing.
At this point, we would like feedback on titles. Here are four possibilities:
What we want out of the title is that it convey (1) that it is a book about AI, (2) that it is a book about democracy writ large (and not just deepfakes), and (3) that it is largely optimistic.
What do you like? Feel free to do some mixing and matching: swapping “Will Transform” for “Will Improve” for “Can Transform” for “Can Improve,” for example. Or “Democracy” for “the Republic.” Remember, the goal here is for a title that will make a potential reader pick the book up off a shelf, or read the blurb text on a webpage. It needs to be something that will catch the reader’s attention. (Other title ideas are here).
Also, FYI, this is the current table of contents:
Introduction
1. Introduction: How AI will Change Democracy
2. Core AI Capabilities
3. Democracy as an Information SystemPart I: AI-Assisted Politics
4. Background: Making Mistakes
5. Talking to Voters
6. Conducting Polls
7. Organizing a Political Campaign
8. Fundraising for Politics
9. Being a PoliticianPart II: AI-Assisted Legislators
10. Background: Explaining Itself
11. Background: Who’s to Blame?
12. Listening to Constituents
13. Writing Laws
14. Writing More Complex Laws
15. Writing Laws that Empower Machines
16. Negotiating LegislationPart III: The AI-Assisted Administration
17. Background: Exhibiting Values and Bias
18. Background: Augmenting Versus Replacing People
19. Serving People
20. Operating Government
21. Enforcing RegulationsPart IV: The AI-Assisted Court
22. Background: Being Fair
23. Background: Getting Hacked
24. Acting as a Lawyer
25. Arbitrating Disputes
26. Enforcing the Law
27. Reshaping Legislative Intent
28. Being a JudgePart V: AI-Assisted Citizens
29. Background: AI and Power
30. Background: AI and Trust
31. Explaining the News
32. Watching the Government
33. Moderating, Facilitating, and Building Consensus
34. Acting as Your Personal Advocate
35. Acting as Your Personal Political ProxyPart VI: Ensuring That AI Benefits Democracy
36. Why AI is Not Yet Good for Democracy
37. How to Ensure AI is Good for Democracy
38. What We Need to Do Now
39. Conclusion
Everything is subject to change, of course. The manuscript isn’t due to the publisher until the end of March, and who knows what AI developments will happen between now and then.
EDITED: The title under consideration is “Rewiring the Republic,” and not “Rewiring Democracy.” Although, I suppose, both are really under consideration.
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
Over the summer, I gave a talk about AI and democracy at TedXBillings. The recording is live.
Please share. I’m hoping for more than 200 views….
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve noticed that I have written a lot about AI and democracy, mostly with my co-author Nathan Sanders. I am pleased to announce that we’re writing a book on the topic.
This isn’t a book about deep fakes, or misinformation. This is a book about what happens when AI writes laws, adjudicates disputes, audits bureaucratic actions, assists in political strategy, and advises citizens on what candidates and issues to support. It’s a book that tries to look into what an AI-assisted democratic system might look like, and then at how to best ensure that we make use of the good parts while avoiding the bad parts.
This is what I talked about in my RSA Conference speech last month, which you can both watch and read. (You can also read earlier attempts at this idea.)
The book will be published by MIT Press sometime in fall 2025, with an open-access digital version available a year after that. (It really can’t be published earlier. Nothing published this year will rise above the noise of the US presidential election, and anything published next spring will have to go to press without knowing the results of that election.)
Right now, the organization of the book is in six parts:
AI-Assisted Politicians
AI-Assisted Legislators
The AI-Assisted Administration
The AI-Assisted Legal System
AI-Assisted Citizens
Getting the Future We Want
It’s too early to share a more detailed table of contents, but I would like help thinking about titles. Below are my current list of brainstorming ideas: both titles and subtitles. Please mix and match, or suggest your own in the comments. No idea is too far afield, because anything can spark more ideas.
Titles:
AI and Democracy
Democracy with AI
Democracy after AI
Democratia ex Machina
Democracy ex Machina
E Pluribus, Machina
Democracy and the Machines
Democracy with Machines
Building Democracy with Machines
Democracy in the Loop
We the People + AI
Artificial Democracy
AI Enhanced Democracy
The State of AI
Citizen AITrusting the Bots
Trusting the Computer
Trusting the MachineThe End of the Beginning
Sharing Power
Better Run
Speed, Scale, Scope, and Sophistication
The New Model of Governance
Model Citizen
Artificial Individualism
Subtitles:
How AI Upsets the Power Balances of Democracy
Twenty (or So) Ways AI will Change Democracy
Reimagining Democracy for the Age of AI
Who Wins and Loses
How Democracy Thrives in an AI-Enhanced World
Ensuring that AI Enhances Democracy and Doesn’t Destroy It
How AI Will Change Politics, Legislating, Bureaucracy, Courtrooms, and Citizens
AI’s Transformation of Government, Citizenship, and Everything In-Between
Remaking Democracy, from Voting to Legislating to Waiting in Line
How to Make Democracy Work for People in an AI Future
How AI Will Totally Reshape Democracies and Democratic Institutions
Who Wins and Loses when AI Governs
How to Win and Not Lose With AI as a Partner
AI’s Transformation of Democracy, for Better and for Worse
How AI Can Improve Society and Not Destroy It
How AI Can Improve Society and Not Subvert It
Of the People, for the People, with a Whole lot of AI
How AI Will Reshape Democracy
How the AI Revolution Will Reshape Democracy
Combinations:
Imagining a Thriving Democracy in the Age of AI: How Technology Enhances Democratic Ideals and Nurtures a Society that Serves its People
Making Model Citizens: How to Put AI to Use to Help Democracy
Modeling Citizenship: Who Wins and Who Loses when AI Transforms Democracy
A Model for Government: Democracy with AI, and How to Make it Work for UsAI of, By, and for the People: How Artificial Intelligence will reshape Democracy
The (AI) Political Revolution: Speed, Scale, Scope, Sophistication, and our Democracy
Speed, Scale, Scope, Sophistication: The AI Democratic Revolution
The Artificial Political Revolution: X Ways AI will Change Democracy…Forever
EDITED TO ADD (7/10): More options:
The Silicon Realignment: The Future of Political Power in a Digital World
Political Machines
EveryTHING is political
There has been a lot of toxicity in the comments section of this blog. Recently, we’re having to delete more and more comments. Not just spam and off-topic comments, but also sniping and personal attacks. It’s gotten so bad that I need to do something.
My options are limited because I’m just one person, and this website is free, ad-free, and anonymous. I pay for a part-time moderator out of pocket; he isn’t able to constantly monitor comments. And I’m unwilling to require verified accounts.
So starting now, we will be pre-screening comments and letting through only those that 1) are on topic, 2) contribute to the discussion, and 3) don’t attack or insult anyone. The standard is not going to be “well, I guess this doesn’t technically quite break a rule,” but “is this actually contributing.”
Obviously, this is a subjective standard; sometimes good comments will accidentally get thrown out. And the delayed nature of the screening will result in less conversation and more disjointed comments. Those are costs, and they’re significant ones. But something has to be done, and I would like to try this before turning off all comments.
I am going to disable comments on the weekly squid posts. Topicality is too murky on an open thread, and these posts are especially hard to keep on top of.
Comments will be reviewed and published when possible, usually in the morning and evening. Sometimes it will take longer. Again, the moderator is part time, so please be patient.
I apologize to all those who have just kept commenting reasonably all along. But I’ve received three e-mails in the past couple of months about people who have given up on comments because of the toxicity.
So let’s see if this works. I’ve been able to maintain an anonymous comment section on this blog for almost twenty years. It’s kind of astounding that it’s worked as long as it has. Maybe its time is up.
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
This is a current list of where and when I am scheduled to speak:
The list is maintained on this page.
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.