The present moment is defined by both the emergence of powerful artificial intelligence and a deepening crisis of lib eral democracy. Must they be opposing forces? Theoretically\, AI could stre ngthen civic participation\, enable more effective governance\, and expand citizens' capacity to hold powerful institutions to account. Yet\, as we ha ve seen\, it can also place unprecedented pressure on democratic institutio ns\, proliferate misinformation\, and entrench corporate—and authoritarian— power in ways that prove difficult to reverse. Anthropic researcher and neu roscientist Matt Botvinick examines these possibilities in his new book\, AI and Political Freedom: The Risk to Democracy and How to Respond\, a subject he never imagined confronting when building his first neural network in the 1990s.
Join Botvinick in co nversation with Chinmayi Arun\, director of the Yale Proje ct on Information and Society\, where Botvinick is also a fellow\, to explo re how AI might alter the balance of power between citizens and the governm ents that represent them\, and which direction those scales might tip. Draw ing on perspectives from technology\, law\, and global governance\, the duo will consider the interconnected short- and long-term risks to political f reedom\, as well as opportunities to harnessing technology for greater publ ic participation. As AI advances amid growing strains on democratic institu tions\, what will determine whether it becomes an instrument of liberation\ , subjugation\, or both?
CATEGORIES:Book Talk LOCATION:Lewis Hall\, 5th floor at the Berkman Klein Center's Multi-Purpose Room 515 GEO:0.000000;0.000000 ORGANIZER;CN="Jacob J Kao":MAILTO:jkao@law.harvard.edu URL;VALUE=URI:https://hls.harvard.edu/events/ai-political-freedom/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://hls.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/AI-Political-Freedom_16x9.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20261101T060000 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR