On the occasion of the AI Action Summit, the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and the Paris Bar Association hosted a thought-provoking round table discussion on AI and the Future of Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities at the Maison du Barreau in Paris. An official side event of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit, the event brought together leading experts from Stanford University to explore the impact of AI on democratic institutions and how it can be implemented in a manner that upholds democratic values.

The round table was moderated by Florence G’sell, Director of the Program on Governance of Emerging Technologies (GET) at the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, and author of the recent book Regulating Under Uncertainty: Governance Options for Generative AI, which examines policy strategies for managing AI’s risks and opportunities. The panel featured Stanford University's Nathaniel Persily, Rob Reich and Emmanuel Candès, along with Divya Siddarth, founder of the Collective Intelligence Project. Panelists provided unique insights into the opportunities and threats posed by AI in democratic societies. Vanessa Bousardo, Vice President of the Paris Bar, gave opening remarks.

The discussion emphasized the latest revolution in artificial intelligence, which has transformed text into numbers, fundamentally changing how we process and generate information. This transformation has introduced both new opportunities and significant risks. Panelists stressed the critical need to ensure that this transformation occurs in a manner that upholds democratic values. To achieve this, they discussed three key strategies: establishing mandatory regulatory oversight by implementing enforceable rules that AI companies must follow; embedding democratic principles into AI technology by promoting transparency through approaches such as open-source development; and enabling independent oversight by allowing academic institutions and other independent organizations to evaluate AI systems and develop alternative models.

The recording of this event is available on YouTube. Note for English speakers: the introductory remarks are in French, though the majority of the discussion following is in English. 

The organization of this event during the AI Action Summit was made possible thanks to the support of Project Liberty.