Nathan E. Sanders and Bruce Schneier, "Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship" (MIT Press, 2025)

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Oct 23, 2025

Nathan E. Sanders, a data scientist with a strong background in astrophysics, dives deep into the transformative potential of AI in governance. He discusses how AI can reshape political power dynamics, enhance civil service efficiency, and even alter citizen-government interactions. The conversation highlights the contrast between US and EU AI policies while exploring practical applications for local governments. Sanders emphasizes the importance of citizen agency in steering AI toward democratic benefits, balancing both its risks and opportunities.

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INSIGHT

AI Is Already Embedded In Government

AI in government is already widespread and practical, not merely hypothetical.
France built a legislative AI (Lama Amendment) to help staff summarize and assess amendments, showing useful assistive applications.

ANECDOTE

Maple: AI Summaries For Every Bill

Nathan describes Maple, a Massachusetts civic platform using AI to summarize 8,000 bills so residents can understand legislation.
The tool automates plain-language explanations that no human could feasibly produce for every bill.

INSIGHT

AI Could Amplify Individual Representation

AI can augment citizens' representation by translating preferences into positions across many issues and frequencies.
Such augmentation raises deep ethical, technical, and democratic questions about authenticity and iteration.

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AI is changing democracy. We still get to decide how.
AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.
In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press, 2025), security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders cut through the AI hype and examine the myriad ways that AI is transforming every aspect of democracy—for both good and ill.
The authors describe how the sophistication of AI will fulfill demands from lawmakers for more complex legislation, reducing deference to the executive branch and altering the balance of power between lawmakers and administrators. They show how the scale and scope of AI is enhancing civil servants’ ability to shape private-sector behavior, automating either the enforcement or neglect of industry regulations. They also explain how both lawyers and judges will leverage the speed of AI, upending how we think about law enforcement, litigation, and dispute resolution.
Whether these outcomes enhance or degrade democracy depends on how we shape the development and use of AI technologies. Powerful players in private industry and public life are already using AI to increase their influence, and AIs built by corporations don’t deliver the fairness and trust required by democratic governance. But, steered in the right direction, AI’s broad capabilities can augment democratic processes and help citizens build consensus, express their voice, and shake up long-standing power structures.
Democracy is facing new challenges worldwide, and AI has become a part of that. It can inform, empower, and engage citizens. It can also disinform, disempower, and disengage them. The choice is up to us. Schneier and Sanders blaze the path forward, showing us how we can use AI to make democracy stronger and more participatory.

Nathan E. Sanders is a data scientist focused on making policymaking more participatory. His research spans machine learning, astrophysics, public health, environmental justice, and more. He has served in fellowships at the Massachusetts legislature and the Berkman-Klein Center at Harvard University.

Caleb Zakarin is editor of the New Books Network.

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