# Memetic Capture: A Pluralistic Policy Framework for Governing AI-Driven Cultural Disempowerment

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.07802 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.07802/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 14 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 5 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [A Roadmap to Pluralistic Alignment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05070/) (2024)
- [Machine Culture](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.11388/) (2023)
- [Gradual Disempowerment: Systemic Existential Risks from Incremental AI Development](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.16946/) (2025)
- [Artificial intelligence in communication impacts language and social relationships](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.05756/) (2021)
- [Policy myopia as a mechanism of gradual disempowerment in Post-AGI governance, Circa 2049](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.03267/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Culture is the most insidious vector of gradual human disempowerment by AI: unlike economic or political displacement, cultural displacement attacks the very preferences and values through which humans recognise and resist disempowerment itself. We argue that existing AI governance frameworks suffer from a critical blind spot by treating cultural impact as secondary to economic and safety concerns. This paper develops memetic capture as a unifying concept for AI-driven cultural disempowerment, and proposes the Cultural Pluralistic Governance Framework (CPGF), a four-tier policy architecture combining quantitative cultural influence metrics, democratic value assemblies, pluralistic deployment standards, and transnational coordination mechanisms. We argue that pluralism is not merely an ethical requirement for such governance but a structural necessity: monocultural AI governance accelerates the very disempowerment it claims to prevent. We identify concrete policy levers, discuss implementation tensions, and outline a research agenda at the intersection of pluralistic alignment and cultural AI governance.