# How will advanced AI systems impact democracy?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.06729 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.06729/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 33 of its 88 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 27 Aug 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 33)

- [Fine-Tuning Language Models from Human Preferences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.08593/) (2019)
- [WebGPT: Browser-assisted question-answering with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.09332/) (2021)
- [Towards Understanding Sycophancy in Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.13548/) (2023)
- [Discovering Language Model Behaviors with Model-Written Evaluations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.09251/) (2022)
- [Whose Opinions Do Language Models Reflect?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.17548/) (2023)
- [Out of One, Many: Using Language Models to Simulate Human Samples](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.06899/) (2022)
- [Can AI-Generated Text be Reliably Detected?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.11156/) (2023)
- [Social Simulacra: Creating Populated Prototypes for Social Computing Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.04024/) (2022)
- [Teaching language models to support answers with verified quotes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.11147/) (2022)
- [Undetectable Watermarks for Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.09194/) (2023)
- [Fine-tuning language models to find agreement among humans with diverse preferences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.15006/) (2022)
- [Political Compass or Spinning Arrow? Towards More Meaningful Evaluations for Values and Opinions in Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.16786/) (2024)
- [Generative Language Models and Automated Influence Operations: Emerging Threats and Potential Mitigations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.04246/) (2023)
- [Power to the People? Opportunities and Challenges for Participatory AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.07572/) (2022)
- [Factuality Challenges in the Era of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05189/) (2023)
- [Jury Learning: Integrating Dissenting Voices into Machine Learning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02950/) (2022)
- [On the Conversational Persuasiveness of Large Language Models: A Randomized Controlled Trial](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.14380/) (2024)
- [CoMPosT: Characterizing and Evaluating Caricature in LLM Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11501/) (2023)
- [Watermarks in the Sand: Impossibility of Strong Watermarking for Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04378/) (2023)
- [AI model GPT-3 (dis)informs us better than humans](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.11924/) (2023)
- [Spear Phishing With Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.06972/) (2023)
- [Opportunities and Risks of LLMs for Scalable Deliberation with Polis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.11932/) (2023)
- [Anatomy of an AI-powered malicious social botnet](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.16336/) (2023)
- [The illusion of artificial inclusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08572/) (2024)
- [A Mechanism-Based Approach to Mitigating Harms from Persuasive Generative AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.15058/) (2024)
- [As Good As A Coin Toss: Human detection of AI-generated images, videos, audio, and audiovisual stimuli](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.16760/) (2024)
- [A Cost Analysis of Generative Language Models and Influence Operations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.03740/) (2023)
- [From Text to Structure: Using Large Language Models to Support the Development of Legal Expert Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04911/) (2023)
- [Demonstrations of the Potential of AI-based Political Issue Polling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.04781/) (2023)
- [IMBUE: Improving Interpersonal Effectiveness through Simulation and Just-in-time Feedback with Human-Language Model Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12556/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy: The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.06299/) (2025)
- [AI and the Future of Digital Public Squares](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.09988/) (2024)
- [AI-Enhanced Deliberative Democracy and the Future of the Collective Will](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.05830/) (2025)
- [Designing Synthetic Discussion Generation Systems: A Case Study for Online Facilitation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.16505/) (2025)
- [DeliberationBench: A Normative Benchmark for the Influence of Large Language Models on Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.10018/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Advanced AI systems capable of generating humanlike text and multimodal content are now widely available. In this paper, we discuss the impacts that generative artificial intelligence may have on democratic processes. We consider the consequences of AI for citizens' ability to make informed choices about political representatives and issues (epistemic impacts). We ask how AI might be used to destabilise or support democratic mechanisms like elections (material impacts). Finally, we discuss whether AI will strengthen or weaken democratic principles (foundational impacts). It is widely acknowledged that new AI systems could pose significant challenges for democracy. However, it has also been argued that generative AI offers new opportunities to educate and learn from citizens, strengthen public discourse, help people find common ground, and to reimagine how democracies might work better.