Fernando Filgueiras

Ricardo Fabrino Mendonça

Virgílio Almeida

AI Regulation Versus AI Innovation: A Fake Dichotomy

Scott Timcke

AI, Inequality, and Democratic Backsliding

Dean Jackson

The United States Needs a Democratic Vision for Its Post-Democracy Era

In an era in which extreme wealth, political authority, and technological dominance grant unprecedented influence to a select few, the extraordinary power of a handful of tech figures poses profound challenges to democratic governance. Through their roles in the development and control of artificial intelligence, social media, telecommunications infrastructure, surveillance systems, the space industry, and renewable energy, these individuals wield immense power through and beyond their companies. They are reshaping political discourse, regulatory landscapes, and societal norms on a global scale.

Tech Policy Press invites contributors to examine the political influence of the 

. Contributors are encouraged to address the democratic risks posed by such individuals with inexhaustible resources and the capacity to shape policy, law, and public opinion who seem increasingly beyond the reach of accountability.

How do democracies—especially those in decline or otherwise precarious positions—safeguard public interests when confronted with figures who can leverage vast wealth, technology, and legal and political power to bypass, reshape, or capture traditional institutional constraints? What frameworks, tools, or strategies are necessary to ensure the ambitions and actions of such individuals align with countries’ democratic values and the will of elected governments?

Read the original call for contributions for this series 

Topic

The Coming Age of Tech Trillionaires and the Challenge to Democracy