OpenAI is building billion-dollar data centers around the world, promising each country its own version of ChatGPT, customized for local language and culture. They call it “democratic AI.”
Their first partner? The United Arab Emirates. A country the US State Department classifies as authoritarian.
The Myth of “Democratic AI” asks what no one wants to answer: When you customize technology for a government that doesn’t protect free speech, are you democratizing anything? Or just making censorship and control more efficient?
For more on this, read our excerpt from “Rewiring Democracy” by Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders.
I’m curious where you land on this. Share your thoughts in the comments.
—Sharon McMahon, Editor-in-Chief
P.S. We’re working on a series about healthcare in America for next week’s issue of The Preamble. We’re looking at insurance, access, costs, the whole system, and I need your stories. Send us a letter about what you’ve experienced or what you wish people understood.