In this paper, we explore how AI agents might benefit, advance, and complicate the realization of democratic values. We aim to consider both faces of the computational Janus, avoiding both Panglossian optimism and ahistorical catastrophizing.
We begin (Section II) by defining key terms and introducing our approach. We then explore AI agents’ democratic implications through three lenses. Section III examines how agents may interact with structural pressures already straining democratic institutions. Section IV identifies novel threats they could introduce. Section V outlines how to design ‘agents for democracy’ that reinforce, rather than undermine, those institutions.
Democracies are weaker than they have been for decades. A great wave is coming, and they are ill-prepared. AI agents may be cure as well as cause, but we cannot depend on them, nor can we simply trust that they will advance democratic values by default. Our urgent task is to rebuild and revitalize the institutions and practices that advance democratic values, restoring their resilience against the technological and social upheaval ahead.