AI’s Real Dangers for Democracy

Issue Date October 2025
Volume 36
Issue 4
Page Numbers 139–50
file Print
external View Citation

Read the full essay here.

In 2024, observers worldwide braced for the electoral impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI). With those contests over, attention should shift to the longer-term risks AI poses to democracy. This essay predicts three such risks. First, AI-backed efforts to replace political communication may erode representative democracy. Second, AI may exacerbate trends toward the concentration of wealth and power, preserving only the façade of democracy. Third, economic trends in media and technology threaten to emaciate already weakened sources of trustworthy information. Avoiding these outcomes will require policymakers to reduce their reliance on the perspectives of industry professionals.

About the Authors

Dean Jackson

Dean Jackson is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and the principal of Public Circle, LLC, a research consultancy focused on democracy, technology, and media.

View all work by Dean Jackson

Samuel C. Woolley

Samuel C. Woolley is associate professor of communication and holds the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Disinformation Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. He is author of The Reality Game: How the Next Wave of Technology Will Break the Truth (2020).

View all work by Samuel C. Woolley

Image Credit: Utku Ucrak/Anadolu via Getty Images