Theodore Lechterman on Automating the Democratic Process

On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews Theodore Lechterman, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at IE University, on automating the democratic process. Lechterman begins by discussing his book on philanthropy, The Tyranny of Generosity: Why Philanthropy Corrupts Our Politics and How We Can Fix It, and its intersection with the ethics and politics of artificial intelligence. Lechterman defines "democracy" and considers what it means to have equality within an institution. He examines the tradeoffs of political automation, detailing what happens when we delegate democratic power to AI. Lechterman weighs the benefits and costs of democractic AI, explaining how AI can help people to educate themselves in their political knowledge and judgment, facilitate the public's participation, and harness AI's processing power to provide more political opinions. Additionally, Lechterman acknowledges political theories in favor of complete automation of the political process and how they fail to solve our political concerns.