AI and you: how confusion about the technology that runs our world threatens democracy
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Photo caption: The past five to 10 years have seen the rise of artificial intelligence, which is increasingly posing a threat to democracy. Jansos / Alamy. Article by March 12, 2021.
Thomas Jefferson, the American statesman and third US president, was many things (including, notoriously, a slave-owner). But whatever else he was (or wasn’t), he was a firm believer in what he called the “suffrage of the people” — what today we’d call democracy.
The democracy he had in mind, of course, wasn’t a truly “general suffrage” of all citizens: in its most ambitious form it enfranchised only male taxpayers and soldiers. It was also far removed from the classical ideal set by Ancient Athens, in which all eligible citizens gathered regularly to debate and settle policy. Still, even Jefferson’s limited and strictly “representative” version of democracy required something vital if it was to function properly: not just an able and knowledgeable public service, but a well-informed voting public. […]
