Four Ways AI Is Being Used to Strengthen Democracies Worldwide (www.schneier.com)

Recent discussions at the World Forum on Democracy in Strasbourg highlighted how AI can both pose risks and provide opportunities for strengthening democracies globally. A new book titled *Rewiring Democracy* explores these dual aspects and presents four key examples of AI enhancing democratic processes: in Japan, AI avatars are revolutionizing political engagement; in Brazil, AI is streamlining judicial procedures to combat backlog; in Germany, AI-driven tools improve voter information access; and in the US, AI aids watchdog journalism by highlighting anomalies in public officials' activities. These initiatives show that AI can empower citizens and civil servants rather than replace them, facilitating greater participation and accountability within democratic frameworks. However, the reliance on proprietary AI from tech giants raises concerns about control and bias. In response, Switzerland has developed an open-source public AI model, Apertus, demonstrating that democratic governance can harness AI for public benefit. The advancement of such "public AI" aims to counteract the potential concentration of power seen with corporate systems, highlighting the need for responsible stewardship of AI technologies to enhance democracy effectively.