Depending on who you ask, artificial intelligence is either the greatest technological breakthrough of our time or one of humanity’s most profound threats.

With the ability to process vast amounts of data far beyond human capacity, AI could easily surpass the decision-making abilities of elected officials, who are limited by time, attention, and information overload. In theory, it could revolutionise policymaking by delivering decisions grounded in far more comprehensive evidence.

But critics warn of the risks in handing power to systems designed by others. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in governance, questions grow around transparency, accountability, and the concentration of power in the hands of a few powerful tech companies with little oversight and even less democratic scrutiny.

Equally concerning is AI’s role in manipulating information. In recent years, elections across the globe have been shaped by disinformation campaigns and with the rise of deepfakes, this manipulation is becoming harder to detect and easier to execute, blurring the line between reality and fiction.

With elections and public opinion now heavily influenced by algorithmic systems, has democracy already lost out to the tech giants? Will the decision-making abilities of AI revolutionise governance? Are we on the brink of surrendering democracy to unaccountable machines? And as synthetic media grows indistinguishable from reality, what happens when the line between truth and fabrication disappears entirely?

(LINEUP TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON)