Considering How AI Destroys Democratic Institutions

Across the world, governments and other institutions are racing to apply artificial intelligence in countless ways. In a draft paper titled “How AI Destroys Institutions” that is forthcoming in the UC Law Journal, Boston University law professors Woodrow Hartzog and Jessica Silbey argue that the design of AI systems—from large language models to predictive and automated decision tools—is fundamentally incompatible with the civic institutions that hold democratic society together, including the rule of law, universities, a free press, and civic life itself. This isn’t necessarily because AI is being misused or falling into the wrong hands, they say—in most instances AI is working exactly as intended and, in doing so, eroding the expertise, decision-making structures, and human connection that give institutions their legitimacy.