Democracy in the Age of AI

We seek to understand how information systems, automation, and AI contribute to tensions between democratic theory and practice. Across programs, we explore how technology impacts the knowledge and institutions that are essential to functional democracy, including journalism, academia, scientific inquiry, and government itself.

What We Do

We examine how the design and deployment of AI and information systems shape the disconnect between democratic ideals and their real-world instantiations. The ideals of democracy are inclusion and fairness, but modern American democracy increasingly reflects exclusion, asymmetry, and contestation. This is due not just to partisan politics, but to a political economy of technology concentration with broad impacts on institutional trust and efficacy.

Focus Areas

AI-Enabled Scams

Generative AI makes scamming easier, faster, and more accessible, fueling a surge in scams and misinformation on a global scale. We research the communities most at risk and the broader economic and cultural shifts that contribute to both scam victimization and perpetration.

Disinformation and Democracy

We investigate how the control and flow of data are used to concentrate power, and identify the gaps and fault lines where we must shore up democratic forms of governance.

Political Economy of AI

By foregrounding the ownership structures of artificial intelligence, we analyze how the current arrangements of capital, technology, and political influence contribute to illiberal formations.

AI-Enabled Scams

Disinformation and Democracy

  • "The factors that render us susceptible to scams are deeply embedded in our cultural, technological, and economic landscapes, cutting across demographic lines and leaving many at risk who might think themselves unlikely targets."
    Excerpt from ScamGPT: How AI Supercharges Fraud

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