Democracy and AI reading list

Fundamental articles, each author is worth following:

https://demos.co.uk/research/verification-deliberation-accountability-a-new-framework-for-tackling-epistemic-collapse-and-renewing-democracy/

https://olivia.science/ai : what is critical AI literacy?

https://www.notesfromthecircus.com/p/the-plot-against-america

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-is-in-its-empire-era

http://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-and-democratic-publics

https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/meet-the-radical-silicon-valley-pro

https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-gui/

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Threat-of-Algocracy%3A-Reality%2C-Resistance-and-Danaher/358658b861245cda48b9c5ea86a7ff430665271a
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/dont-panic-yet-assessing-the-evidence-and-discourse-around-generative-ai-and-elections

https://washingtonspectator.org/the-wide-angle-elon-musk-and-the-american-endgame/ (more at https://america2.news )

https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-blogger-who-hates-america

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/elon-musks-ai-fuelled-war-on-human-agency

https://substack.com/home/post/p-157052044

https://substack.com/home/post/p-157374299

https://lessig.org/gallery/video/#pop5558

https://www.dair-institute.org/projects/tescreal/

lhttps://henryfarrell.net/large-ai-models-are-cultural-and-social-technologies/

https://www.aisnakeoil.com/p/ai-as-normal-technology

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk

https://medium.com/mapai/ai-and-the-new-theocracies-9b573eb9ab1b

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/opinion/grok-ai-musk-x-south-africa.html?unlocked_article_code=1.H08._7FZ.jbdvKF8tRIf_&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/30/the-algocracy-agenda-how-ai-and-the-deep-state-are-digitizing-tyranny/

https://www.404media.co/ai-is-supercharging-the-war-on-libraries-education-and-human-knowledge/

https://www.publicbooks.org/four-frictions-or-how-to-resist-ai-in-education/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

Conversation on AI-human relationships with Dan Williams et al.

https://www.publicbooks.org/four-frictions-or-how-to-resist-ai-in-education/

Article on deskilling in IT

https://www.liberalcurrents.com/deflating-hype-wont-save-us/

https://www.authoritarian-stack.info

https://www.404media.co/ai-is-supercharging-the-war-on-libraries-education-and-human-knowledge/

https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2025/11/BRIA/68925

A lot mentions this technofeudal screed:

Specific critic:

Counterpoint on the left

who wrote

More books about tech, democracy, and AI

https://craphound.com/category/internetcon/

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691241173/the-tech-coup

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/743569/empire-of-ai-by-karen-hao/

s

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/adam-becker/more-everything-forever/9781541619593/

Technopolitique (Asma Mhalla)

Disabling intelligence (link with eugenics)

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/05/sycophantic-ai/682743/

Non-political ai criticism

https://knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-as-normal-technology

https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395 Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence

https://blog.glyph.im/2025/08/futzing-fraction.html

https://aace.org/review/caulfield-ai/

https://www.anildash.com//2025/10/17/the-majority-ai-view/

https://zenodo.org/records/15677840 environment angle

A Metatheory of Classical and Modern Connectionism (Olivia Guest et al.)

Calculating empires: Tech and power dataviz.

People to follow on AI issues

Emily Bender and Timnit Gebru
https://www.dair-institute.org/maiht3k/
Melanie Mitchell
https://aiguide.substack.com
Meredith Whittaker
https://thenew.institute/en/media/meredith-whittaker-on-ai-tech-power-and-surveillance
aussi impliquée avec le
https://ainowinstitute.org
Gary Marcus
https://garymarcus.substack.com
Kate Crawford
https://katecrawford.net/atlas

Baldur Bjarnasson

Great podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/tech-wont-save-us/id1507621076
(esp. episode on Ali Alkhatib…)

Talks by Zeynep Tufekci. (Waiting for this one to be published!)

Talk by Tressie McMillan Cotton