Estonian commentator asks whether AI will turn voters into livestock
In an opinion piece on the Estonian public broadcaster ERR's news site, Mari-Liis Jakobson argues that humans must keep control over political decisions as AI can distort reality in election campaigns.
A commentary by Mari-Liis Jakobson on the news site of Estonia's public broadcaster ERR examines how artificial intelligence (AI) may affect government and democracy. The author stresses that people must retain control over political decision-making and the ability to check information against reality. The text is the author's opinion rather than a news report.
The piece opens by noting that in recent weeks Estonia has seen several layoff announcements as companies reorganize and use AI to automate work previously done by people.
Bureaucracy and the livestock scenario
Jakobson cites Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, who has said AI is a far better bureaucrat than a human. Humans did not evolve for bureaucracy, whereas databases and procedures are AI's natural environment, and it can process huge amounts of information at once without tiring.
Harari also paints a darker picture: just as a cow knows nothing of the financial markets or legal systems that decide its fate, people may find that AI-built administrative, legal and economic systems have become too complex to understand. Humans would remain part of the system but without real control over it.
Democracy and distorted reality
The author notes that democracy rests on people's right to decide what kind of society they want and who should hold power, and that such decisions are not always rational or efficient. AI can help organize information, translate and analyze, but the question is how far it should be allowed to construct reality itself.
She gives examples. Before this year's election in Hungary, an AI-generated video was posted on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's official Facebook account, showing opposition leader Péter Magyar apparently receiving a call from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen; the video carried a disclaimer that it was made with AI. Before Slovakia's 2023 election, a fabricated audio recording of opposition leader Michal Šimečka circulated. Ahead of Germany's parliamentary elections last year, the Alternative for Germany party used AI-generated imagery.
Estonia has not seen incidents of comparable severity, but Jakobson urges political parties to agree on transparent principles for using AI in election campaigns.
