Fixing crossed wires with Professor Bruce Schneier
In his new book, Schneier suggests AI may bring hope to democracy in decline
Click here to watch the book launch recorded in full
Professor Bruce Schneier is a prolific writer. Over the last few decades, he has earned worldwide repute as a security technologist and cryptographer. His ideas and analysis have never been more topical and relevant than since the advent of artificial intelligence. His latest book, co-authored with Nathan E Sanders, is called Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship. It explores the ways that AI is likely to alter representation and governance globally.
The Munk School recently hosted a launch event for Rewiring Democracy, convening a lively discussion that included Professor Ron Deibert, Director of the Citizen Lab and Professor Beth Coleman of UTM’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology and the Faculty of Information.
Counter to common assumptions, Schneier and Sanders do not relegate AI as a harbinger of tyranny. On the contrary, they identify the many opportunities for increasing government efficiency and broadening access to information and services, which Schneier explained using examples from around the world.
Deibert’s outlook is more circumspect.
"Authoritarianism is spreading...every aspect of cyberespionage has now been automated and accelerated by AI,” said Deibert. “Every single world event is now flooded with AI-enabled disinformation.”
Coleman notes another danger, “Predictive models are trained on the past.”
Despite these risks, one gets the sense that Schneier is someone that can hold more than one truth as evident. His optimism rises to meet the gravity of the subject matter.
"We need to teach AI literacy. AI will create a feedback loop. You need to know how to prompt it.”
What is certain is that change is happening. Schneier’s book reminds his readers that choice is still a significant factor in what those changes are.
