Citizens of Tomorrow (Using AI to Revive Local Democracy)

How we—and not Big Tech—can use AI to build stronger democracies and cities that are both smart and humane.

When we think about our future with AI, we tend to imagine a dystopian future in which tech giants use ever more sophisticated algorithms to take control of our lives. A technocratic model of governance in which the people have no place. In Citizens of Tomorrow, Mathis Bitton and Elizabeth Haas Edersheim argue that an alternative is possible, that we can build a future in which AI can give us more ownership over decision-making. They argue that AI can:

• reflect us back to ourselves. AI can give communities access to high-level analytics that reflect the complexities of local preferences and situations.
• expand our political imagination. AI can work alongside our communities to show us possibilities that would otherwise remain inaccessible. It can help us imagine fairer futures, showing us novel solutions around which we can unite.
• build continuous and localized decision-making. AI agents can represent us in dynamic systems—services and policies—and can negotiate on our behalf, giving an equal voice to everyone.

Drawing on three years of work with cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, original survey data, and hundreds of interviews, the authors profile a coalition of civic technologists, community organizers, and forward-thinking officials working to turn AI from an instrument of top-down control into a platform for bottom-up engagement.

By showing that AI can help us revive local democracy, the authors show that our cities can be smart and humane at once—and it’s up to us to build them.