Security News > 2023 > November > Ten Ways AI Will Change Democracy

In this short essay, I want to move beyond the "AI-generated disinformation" trope and speculate on some of the ways AI will change how democracy functions-in both large and small ways.

When reading about the successes and failures of AI systems, it's important to differentiate between the fundamental limitations of AI as a technology, and the practical limitations of AI systems in the fall of 2023.

It's much more effective for a student to learn a topic from an interactive AI chatbot than from a textbook.

We don't yet know which aspects of the legal profession can be done by AIs, but many routine tasks that are now handled by attorneys will soon be able to be completed by an AI. Early attempts at having AIs write legal briefs haven't worked, but this will change as the systems get better at accuracy.

More generally, AI chatbots are really good at generating persuasive arguments.

When I teach AI policy at HKS, I stress the importance of separating the specific AI chatbot technologies in November of 2023 with AI's technological possibilities in general.

News URL

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2023/11/ten-ways-ai-will-change-democracy.html