Ahead of the U.S. election, some analysts worried that artificial intelligence could imperil election integrity. Although AI did not end up disrupting the vote, experts aren’t writing off the risks it poses to democracy.“I think it would be foolhardy to say: ‘Well, there’s been no major disaster yet, so we’re okay here,’” Gary Marcus, a scientist and AI expert, recently told FP’s Rishi Iyengar. “That’d be like saying we made a bunch of steamships, so this one’s invincible, and whoops, you hit an iceberg.”In this edition of Flash Points, FP contributors consider the ways AI could endanger democratic societies and how policymakers might face down those threats.—Chloe Hadavas
FP deputy editor Sasha Polakow-Suransky hosts Counterpoint, a new podcast from FP and the Doha Forum. Listen in as an international cast of diplomats, journalists, academics and activists from around the globe debate controversial issues that get to the heart of the world’s biggest dilemmas.
