Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: For Better and Worse?

September 10, 2025

With the influence and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) rapidly expanding, it is important to plan and prepare for the future of democracy with AI. Can AI become a tool for democratic progress, or will it become a weapon for its destruction?

To provide context for this question, Doctors of Democracy (DODO) is proud to announce the publication of its first-ever research report: Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: For Better and Worse?. This report collects and summarizes recent scholarly literature on the future of democracy in an AI-dominated world. The report is the fruit of the labors of DODO’s first summer intern, Charlotte Dangel.

Artificial Intelligence and Democracy: For Better and Worse? explores AI's potential impacts on four areas of democracy:

• Election administration: AI has the potential to increase the efficiency of election administration in areas like voter list maintenance, resource allocation, and monitoring, but its adoption comes with significant risks related to disenfranchisement, bias, and violation of ballot secrecy.

• The information environment: AI accelerates the spread of misinformation and disinformation, potentially eroding public trust and making democracies more vulnerable to malign actors.

• Campaigns: AI is transforming political campaigns by enabling them to produce cheaper and more targeted advertising more quickly, and by serving as an AI campaign assistant and volunteer, but these advancements raise ethical dilemmas around bias, misinformation, and the potential for a "liar's dividend" where candidates can dismiss damaging but truthful content as fake.

• Citizen trust and civic engagement: AI has the potential to both diminish public trust and increase civic participation through new digital tools.

The report concludes that AI's impact is not a predetermined outcome. Instead, it will depend on the ethical choices of political actors, the timeliness of government regulation, the self-regulation of tech companies, and our collective ability to think critically – something that is close to our hearts at DODO.