[AI & Local Democracy]
One day, not so distant, municipal councils will be animated by AIs parameterized according to citizens’ sensitivities.
Already today, local governments are testing AIs to simulate or assist public debates. In Buenos Aires (since 2019), an AI chatbot on WhatsApp answers over 5 million questions monthly on services, vaccinations and bike-sharing. In France, the 2024 Data Publica barometer shows 51 % of local authorities have launched or plan an AI project this year (36 % have tested one). AI doesn’t run councils yet, but it already processes citizen data to anticipate needs.
The elections themselves, while keeping elected lists, will let citizens enrich local AIs with their suggestions and concerns.
This is already emerging: tools like SeeClickFix (used in Midland, Texas) and citizen chatbots allow residents to report and prioritize issues in real time. In Europe, the OECD’s 2025 report Governing with Artificial Intelligence notes that AI accelerates citizen participation through enhanced consultation platforms. Cities like Montpellier, Rennes and Nantes have already held public consultations to define AI uses.
Will we lose something in democracy? Yes on the form, sadly no on the substance, which is already very limited.
Studies confirm it. In the US, over 70 % of Americans fail a basic quiz on institutions (Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2024). In France, the Senate has documented the decline in civic and philosophical skills for years (2024 report on AI and territories). AI could compensate… or worsen the deficit if uncontrolled.
Does this pave the way for techno-authoritarianism? The slope is already engaged. Our preferences are being shaped by digital platforms.
Social media algorithms, such as those on Facebook and Instagram, have been shown to amplify polarizing content and subtly shift political preferences (Guess et al., Science 2023; 2025 reranking study in Science). More broadly, filter bubbles and algorithmic amplification reinforce polarization (Barberá et al., 2020; Kelm et al., 2023). Philosopher Alice Crary describes this phenomenon as the hyper-personalization of content subtly altering our views without us noticing.
Will local governments be better managed? Mostly yes. Multifactorial thinking is foreign to most citizens — and often to those in power. Many good ideas come from opposition, heated debates and unforeseen problems.
Concrete examples: • Chattanooga (USA): AI traffic management cut congestion by 32 %. • Hangzhou (China): Alibaba’s “City Brain” optimizes 104 intersections in real time. • UK’s Kent County Council uses predictive AI to prevent homelessness via fiscal and social data.
AI excels at complex analysis… when well parameterized. The risk is losing ideas born from real human confrontation (LGA UK report on AI in local councils, 2024).
The Platonic enlightened tyrant is arriving — and it will be an AI. Humans will simply steer the trajectory.
Plato dreamed of a “philosopher-king” guided by pure wisdom (The Republic). Today, thinkers openly discuss AI as the ultimate philosopher-king: an entity capable of unbiased, multifactorial reasoning. Recent articles ask: can AI embody the enlightened tyrant? As Plato warned in The Laws, the danger is technocracy without democratic control. Humans must remain the ethical safeguard. Educating citizens is urgent.
Is this world desirable? The question is no longer relevant. Civic and philosophical skills keep declining, and living together is increasingly difficult. A few enlightened voices will remain.
The decline is measurable: only 36 % of Americans can name the three branches of government. In France, the Senate stresses the need to involve citizens in AI governance to avoid a “democracy without citizens” (IA & Territoires, 2024). AI is not inevitable fate — it is a mirror of our current weaknesses. The enlightened will demand transparency, auditability and permanent human oversight.
Caro Ministro @andreaabodi, una regola da ampliare subito è quella degli “homegrown players” incentivata dall’UEFA dal 2008.
I Club di serie A e B devono allineare più giocatori formati nelle nostre leghe.
Non più un minimo di 8 giocatori su una rosa di 25: andare oltre, progressivamente. 10 dall’anno prossimo. Poi 12. Poi 14. Poi 16, con al massimo 9 giocatori sviluppati all’estero per la stagione 29-30.
Sempre rispettando il diritto europeo, ma con l’obiettivo di limitare la compravendita di giocatori under 21 stranieri poi riqualificati homegrown, abbassare l’età limite dai 21 attuali ai 20 anni, poi 19, poi 18.
Così si darà tutto lo spazio necessario ai nostri giovani, detentori del passaporto italiano o meno.
Infine, per non svantaggiare i nostri espatriati, aggiungere una deroga per gli oriundi nati fuori Europa.
Ah, stavo per dimenticare: non ascoltare i Club. Sono in malagestione cronica da anni, verrebbero dissolti quasi tutti se fossero sottoposti alle stesse regole della mia panetteria sotto casa. Ma come pretendono?
#Azzurri #Italia #BosniaItalia #WorldCup
@DiMarzio@FIGC@SerieA@tommasogiulini (che cito perché lui ci prova) @FBaresi@Totti@CagliariCalcio
Une vraie question, @Prefet92.
Des candidates ayant prononcé et applaudi ces propos (“je vais faire mourir Muzeau en prison”), il y en a au moins deux dans la vidéo, peuvent-elles siéger au conseil municipal?
On va devoir installer une sécurité entre elles et nous?
Clichy mérite mieux!
Je soutiens sans réserve David Lisnard pour 2027.
Il va relever la France.
Et il a prouvé à Cannes que l’on peut avoir de meilleurs services publics, plus d’investissement, en dépensant moins!
Faites-lui confiance.
@davidlisnard
Schéma habituel.
1. Une information ouvre la porte à de la suspicion. Les complotistes s’engouffrent.
2. Les éditorialistes, les journalistes, les debunkers, les vigilants (pas tous à chaque fois) s’attaquent en priorité aux complotistes.
3. Ces vigies s’emploient ensuite à traquer les manipulations étrangères/extrémistes.
4. Pendant ce temps, les “lambdas” aimeraient juste en savoir plus sur cette information. Que les spécialistes creusent un peu le sujet.
5. Les vigies expliquent ensuite aux “lambdas” qu’ils font le jeu des complotistes, qu’ils sont manipulés par les algorithmes, par des puissances étrangères, bref faudrait réglementer les réseaux sociaux.
6. Les vigies estiment qu’ils ont bien travaillé, que leur méthode sert le Bien et la Vérité.
7. Les lambdas, effarés, basculent ou dans le retrait sceptique, ou rejoignent les complotistes.
Reproduire la séquence ci-dessus depuis au moins le Raimbow Warrior.
Ça fait donc 50 ans que les démocrates autoproclamés sabotent la démocratie.
Nous autre Européens devront réapprendre à parler, à agir en tant qu’acteurs de première ligne, et non derrière les fusils Ukrainiens ou les jupons Américains.
Et non, cela ne suppose pas d’intégrer nos armées. Mais de se coordonner et se répartir les points chauds.
@grok@ShowigaP@AlciatorLA@CartesDuMonde@spye2000 parallèlement le pic US 2020-21 est lié à la violence importante de la fin du mandat Trump et aux secousses post-Floyd, qui là est conjoncturel.
Vieillissement de la pop Afro-américaine est du structurel, expansion du trafic de droguerie chez nous aussi du structurel.
@grok@ShowigaP@AlciatorLA@CartesDuMonde@spye2000 Mwi, le problème c’est quand les courbes s’inversent, pas les fluctuations.
Pour la France on attend les données 2024 consolidées, il semblerait que l’on soit vers une légère baisse.
2024 verrait un léger mieux en France, après une hausse essentiellement liée aux trafics de drogu
@wazzaaaaa1@AlciatorLA@CartesDuMonde@spye2000 Un vrai clown. Zoom entre 2018 et 2023, avec des données officielles stp. Oh wait! Tu as tort depuis le début mais tu t’enfonces!
Salut 👋
🇮🇹 Italiani per sempre! 🇮🇹
Ius sanguinis sin límites: ¡la sangre italiana vive en Sudamérica! Defendamos a los oriundos #ItalianosEnElMundo
Ius sanguinis sem limites: o sangue italiano vive na América do Sul! Defendamos os oriundos #ItalianosNoMundo
🇮🇹 Italiani per sempre! 🇮🇹
Ius sanguinis sin límites: ¡la sangre italiana vive en Sudamérica! Defendamos a los oriundos #ItalianosEnElMundo
Ius sanguinis sem limites: o sangue italiano vive na América do Sul! Defendamos os oriundos #ItalianosNoMundo
🇮🇹 Italiani per sempre! 🇮🇹
Ius sanguinis sin límites: ¡la sangre italiana vive en Sudamérica! Defendamos a los oriundos #ItalianosEnElMundo
Ius sanguinis sem limites: o sangue italiano vive na América do Sul! Defendamos os oriundos #ItalianosNoMundo
🇮🇹 🇦🇷 🇧🇷 🇺🇾 🇨🇱 🇵🇪 🇻🇪 🇵🇾
@Klat63@escortert Carrément; l’opération Soudja était en ce sens une aberration. En infériorité numérique et matérielle, il faut rétrécir la ligne de front.
What would it take to create the SpaceX of Nuclear, cutting costs by 10x?
For rockets, the answer was obvious: Make them re-usable.
What is the equivalent insight for reactors? 🧵