Share this Post

Popular debates about AI and democracy rest on misconceptions about both democracy and AI. Theodore Lechterman, an ascendant thinker in the philosophy and governance of AI, dismantles these misconceptions and shows how to rethink democracy for an algorithmic age.

Recoding Democracy reveals that democratizing AI is not about widening product access or granting stakeholder input on Big Tech’s terms. It requires that those subjected to AI systems enjoy fair opportunities for ongoing and deliberative public oversight. The book rejects fantasies of AI-powered direct democracy and makes the case for representative democracy selectively reinforced by AI. It shows how the possibility of rule by intelligent machines threatens democracy’s philosophical foundations and charts a path for strengthening them. Most boldly, the book defends the possibility of AI citizenship and grapples with the resulting questions of political justice between human and artificial citizens.

Daring in its questions but sober in its claims, Recoding Democracy is essential reading for engaged citizens as well as students and scholars in philosophy, politics, law, and technology.

Theodore Lechterman is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy. A specialist in political philosophy and applied ethics, Theodore Lechterman researches the relationship between artificial intelligence, democracy, and economic power. At IE University, he leads the UNESCO Chair in AI Ethics and Governance and teaches on technology ethics. He was previously a researcher at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. He is the author of a chapter on accountability in The Oxford Handbook of AI Governance and of the forthcoming book Recoding Democracy: AI and the Fight for Our Democratic Future (Polity).