The Ape with Silicon Eyes: Democracy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Marianna  Prysiazhnyuk

doi:10.22151/politikon.CON00

Authors

Marianna Prysiazhnyuk University of Bucharest

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.CON00

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence and Democracy, Democratic Agency, Algorithmic Governance, Responsibility and Accountability in AI Systems, Epistemic Inequality, Sovereignty Erosion, Algorithmic Surveillance

Abstract

This essay argues that Artificial Intelligence (AI) subtly destabilizes the human-centered foundations of democracy. While AI does not disrupt formal procedures, it replaces the human judgment that historically grounds political legitimacy. Drawing on theological, literary, and philosophical frameworks, the essay conceptualizes AI as simia hominis—an imitator of human cognition without interiority or accountability. AI-generated speech and decisions create responsibility without an author, breaking the democratic requirement of traceable agency. By filtering information and preconfiguring public reason, AI reshapes the infosphere before citizens deliberate it. Democracy remains formally intact but becomes materially post-human as human judgment becomes optional. It also introduces the symposium discussion in our Conversation section, which brought together nine contributors to consider the question: as AI becomes embedded in campaigning, policymaking, information ecosystems, and surveillance, what is the most urgent challenge it poses to democracy, and which democratic institution is best equipped to address it?

Author Biography

Marianna Prysiazhnyuk, University of Bucharest

Marianna Prysiazhnyuk is a researcher and political analyst specializing in international relations, political science, and strategic communications in Eastern Europe. She is pursuing a PhD at the University of Bucharest, focusing on strategic narratives of Russian foreign policy in Eastern Europe. She works primarily on Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania and has nearly a decade of experience as a journalist covering this region. She is actively involved in countering foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and contributed to the European Horizon-funded ATHENA project on strengthening European information security, working as a FIMI analyst for the Ukrainian cybersecurity company ISSP. To contact Marianna about submissions to the Conversations section, please use the following email address: politikon.conversations@iapss.org.

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