Can liberal democracy survive the age of AI?

Can liberal democracy survive the age of artificial intelligence?

As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in classrooms, workplaces, governments and social media platforms, that question is moving beyond philosophy and into public policy. More than 70% of organizations worldwide now use AI in at least one business function, according to McKinsey's 2025 Global AI Survey, while governments are investing billions to secure leadership in technology.

Much of the conversation surrounding artificial intelligence has focused on regulation, economic competitiveness, misinformation and national security. Yet beneath those debates lies a more fundamental question. If AI transforms how people learn, communicate, and access information, what happens to the capacity for independent thought, moral judgment and civic responsibility on which liberal democracy depends?

For Rob Riemen, founder and president of the Nexus Institute, a Dutch organization which promotes dialogue on the future of liberal democracy, that question lies at the heart of today's AI debate.

Speaking to The Beiruter, Riemen argued that artificial intelligence is not creating democracy's deepest problems. Rather, it is exposing and accelerating weaknesses that already exist. Viewed through that lens, he argues, the defining challenge posed by artificial intelligence is not what artificial intelligence becomes capable of, but whether citizens retain the qualities on which democratic societies have always depended.

"The future of democracy will not be decided by algorithms," Riemen said.

It will be decided by whether people still have the courage to think for themselves, ask difficult questions, and seek wisdom rather than simply information.

AI and the erosion of truth

Among the most pressing concerns surrounding artificial intelligence is its ability to produce convincing but fabricated content. From deepfakes and synthetic media to AI-generated search results, policymakers are grappling with how societies distinguish truth from falsehood.

For Riemen, however, those concerns point to a deeper problem.

Rather than asking what artificial intelligence can do, he argues societies should reconsider what intelligence itself means.

"If your friendship is artificial, it's not really friendship. If your love is artificial, it's not really love. If your justice is artificial, it's not really justice," he said. "My first conclusion is that artificial intelligence is not actually intelligence."

Unlike people, he argues, AI cannot distinguish good from evil, truth from falsehood or make moral judgments. That limitation becomes especially significant because democracies are already grappling with declining trust, political polarization and what many describe as a post-truth environment.

For Riemen, AI does not invent deception. Rather, it dramatically expands the speed and scale at which misinformation spreads while recommendation algorithms reinforce existing beliefs instead of challenging them.

"The algorithms continually feed you more of what you already believe," he said.

If you hold a particular political opinion, algorithms reinforce it. They rarely expose you to different ideas. Instead of broadening your perspective, they trap you inside your own intellectual cave.

For liberal democracies, he argues, that may be the greater challenge. Democracy depends upon citizens willing to question assumptions, confront competing perspectives and revise their own beliefs. Technologies that continually reinforce existing views risk making those habits difficult to sustain.

Democracy depends on education

One of the most immediate questions raised by generative AI concerns education. Schools and universities around the world are grappling with how students should use tools such as ChatGPT, weighing their potential to improve learning against concerns that they may undermine critical thinking and independent work.

For Riemen, those debates are ultimately about the future of democracy itself. Democratic institutions, he argues, cannot function without citizens capable of independent thought, responsibility and moral judgment.

"Above all democracy depends on the spirit of democracy," he said.

That spirit, he argues, is the desire to elevate people rather than simply equip them with technical skills.

"Education is about helping people ask life's fundamental questions. What should I do with my life? What gives my life meaning? It equips people with the wisdom and judgment to navigate those questions," Riemen said.

A true democracy seeks to elevate its citizens through education.

The rapid adoption of generative AI has also fueled broader questions about whether technologies designed to increase efficiency might reduce opportunities for independent thinking. While AI can summarize information, draft essays and answer questions in seconds, it cannot substitute for the intellectual effort involved in developing judgment.

Why democracy needs the arts

As governments and technology companies compete to develop capable AI systems, much of the discussion has centered on computing power, investment and regulation. Riemen argues that a parallel conversation has received far less attention. If artificial intelligence can perform intellectual tasks once associated with humans, what remains uniquely human?

"The arts are indispensable because they continually remind us what it means to be human," Riemen said.

The great arts will remind you of human nature.

The arts, he argues, force people to confront questions of meaning, justice and responsibility that artificial intelligence cannot answer. That also explains why authoritarian governments have so often targeted artists, writers and educational institutions.

“Authoritarian leaders consistently undermine culture, education and artistic institutions because those are the very things that cultivate independent human beings,” Rieman said.

The first thing authoritarian leaders do is remove the arts.

For Riemen, defending the humanities is therefore inseparable from defending liberal democracy itself. A society may continue producing increasingly sophisticated technologies, while gradually losing the qualities needed to use those technologies wisely.

AI amplifies society's values

Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a force that will transform society. Riemen argues it primarily amplifies the values already present within it.

"Technology itself has no moral compass," he said. "It amplifies whatever values already exist within society."

If societies value truth, wisdom, justice and beauty, he argues, AI can strengthen those ideals. If they prize efficiency, profit and speed above all else, artificial intelligence will reinforce those priorities just as effectively.

"Our deepest identity comes from what we share as human beings," Riemen said.

"We have the capacity to live in truth, to do justice, to create beauty. That is our real common identity. Only when a society cultivates those shared human capacities can we become united."

That is why, he argues, today's debate over artificial intelligence cannot be separated from broader questions about education, culture and democratic life.

Whether liberal democracy can thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, he argues, will depend less on the sophistication of algorithms than on whether societies continue cultivating citizens capable of thinking independently, exercising moral judgment and seeking truth over convenience.