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Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship
From the New York Times–bestselling author of The Hacker's Mind and Data & Goliath, an informative and wide-ranging exploration of how AI will alter every facet of democracy, and how to harness the technology to distribute rather than concentrate power.
AI will change democracy. The only question is how.
AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.
In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy, security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders cut through the AI hype and examine the myriad ways that AI could dramatically change every aspect of democracy— for both good and ill.
The authors describe how the sophistication of AI will fulfill demands from lawmakers for more complex legislation, reducing deference to the executive and altering the balance of power between legislators and administrators. They show how the scalability of AI is enabling civil servants to enforce regulations on corporations used to skirting the rules, which will reshape private-sector behavior. They also explain how both lawyers and judges will leverage the speed of AI, upending how we think about law enforcement, litigation, and dispute resolution.
Whether these outcomes enhance or degrade democracy depends on how we shape the development and use of AI technologies. Powerful players in private industry and public life are already using AI to increase their influence, and AIs built by corporations to drive shareholder value aren’t designed to deliver the fairness and trust necessary to enhance democratic governance. But, steered in the right direction, the broad scope of an AI-augmented democracy would help citizens build consensus, express their voice, and organize against anti-democratic policies.
Democracy is facing new challenges worldwide, and AI will be a part of that. It can inform, empower, and engage citizens. It can also disinform, disempower, and disengage them. The choice is up to us. Schneier and Sanders blaze the path forward, showing us how we can use it to make an AI-infused democracy stronger and more participatory.
AI will change democracy. The only question is how.
AI’s impact on democracy will go far beyond headline-grabbing political deepfakes and automated misinformation. Everywhere it will be used, it will create risks and opportunities to shake up long-standing power structures.
In this highly readable and advisedly optimistic book, Rewiring Democracy, security technologist Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders cut through the AI hype and examine the myriad ways that AI could dramatically change every aspect of democracy— for both good and ill.
The authors describe how the sophistication of AI will fulfill demands from lawmakers for more complex legislation, reducing deference to the executive and altering the balance of power between legislators and administrators. They show how the scalability of AI is enabling civil servants to enforce regulations on corporations used to skirting the rules, which will reshape private-sector behavior. They also explain how both lawyers and judges will leverage the speed of AI, upending how we think about law enforcement, litigation, and dispute resolution.
Whether these outcomes enhance or degrade democracy depends on how we shape the development and use of AI technologies. Powerful players in private industry and public life are already using AI to increase their influence, and AIs built by corporations to drive shareholder value aren’t designed to deliver the fairness and trust necessary to enhance democratic governance. But, steered in the right direction, the broad scope of an AI-augmented democracy would help citizens build consensus, express their voice, and organize against anti-democratic policies.
Democracy is facing new challenges worldwide, and AI will be a part of that. It can inform, empower, and engage citizens. It can also disinform, disempower, and disengage them. The choice is up to us. Schneier and Sanders blaze the path forward, showing us how we can use it to make an AI-infused democracy stronger and more participatory.
360 pages, Hardcover
Published October 21, 2025
15 people are currently reading
2102 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Schneier
50 books639 followersBruce Schneier is a renowned security technologist, called a “security guru” by the Economist. He has written more than one dozen books, including the New York Times bestseller Data and Goliath (2014) and Click Here to Kill Everybody (2018). He teaches at the Harvard Kennedy School and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 24, 2025
Schneier on Speculation
I’m a soft target for books about technology and government, but Reworking Democracy never escapes its premise. It’s mostly a catalog—hundreds of things governments could do with AI—without much sense of how any of it compounds into real institutional change.
What I wanted was second-order effects: how today’s small deployments become tomorrow’s power shifts. Instead I got arms length speculation. The book handwaves through possibilities but avoids the harder question of what’s actually happening inside real agencies and among real citizens. Alas, this book falls into the trap of celebrity futurism.
It also drifts away from Schneier’s real strength. A tighter focus on security implications—attack surfaces, vulnerabilities, institutional resilience—would have been more substantive.
I’m a soft target for books about technology and government, but Reworking Democracy never escapes its premise. It’s mostly a catalog—hundreds of things governments could do with AI—without much sense of how any of it compounds into real institutional change.
What I wanted was second-order effects: how today’s small deployments become tomorrow’s power shifts. Instead I got arms length speculation. The book handwaves through possibilities but avoids the harder question of what’s actually happening inside real agencies and among real citizens. Alas, this book falls into the trap of celebrity futurism.
It also drifts away from Schneier’s real strength. A tighter focus on security implications—attack surfaces, vulnerabilities, institutional resilience—would have been more substantive.
November 20, 2025
An interesting book - it's well researched, although slightly repetitive. Essentially the thesis boils down to making sure that things done by AI are overseen to a decent extent by humans, and that AI may further exacerbate existing social divides.
It's interesting reading a book that was published so recently about something so fluid - even now, a few months after publication, there have been advances and changes in the world of (USA) democracy, which highlights how AI is very much within the zeitgeist.
It's interesting reading a book that was published so recently about something so fluid - even now, a few months after publication, there have been advances and changes in the world of (USA) democracy, which highlights how AI is very much within the zeitgeist.
November 5, 2025
At the Infosec World 2025 conference last week, AI dominated discussions and vendor displays. One sparsely attended speaker joked that including AI in the title of his talk would have drawn a larger crowd.
When I heard about Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press) by Bruce Schneier and Dr. Nathan Sanders, I expected a harsh critique of AI’s impact on democracy, but the book instead presents a nuanced thesis on how AI will transform, rather than simply threaten, our political systems.
Bruce Schneier needs no introduction to those in the world of information security. His co-author, Sanders, is a data scientist, physical scientist, and a teacher at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University.
To me, the authors take an unexpectedly optimistic view of AI’s potential impact on democracy. Their main thesis is that, although AI can be used by oppressive regimes to cause harm, it can also be deliberately leveraged to support democratic values and processes. They provide an insightful exploration of how AI, when properly governed, could bring positive transformation to democracy.
Although AI is still in its infancy, it has already altered much of the democratic process. The authors believe it can be harnessed to strengthen, rather than undermine, democracy.
While governments often work quite slowly and are immune to change (consider the amount of code written on COBOL and FORTRAN running on government systems), the authors write that many governments are already actively using AI. This includes those involved in drafting legislation, judges using it in legal rulings, and more.
The authors write that AI can help make laws more transparent and more consistent. With their superhuman attention spans, AI excels at enforcing syntactic and grammatical rules. They can be effective at drafting text in precise, proper legislative language or at offering detailed feedback to human drafters.
Small details are important and can have significant legal implications. Just recently, a seemingly slam-dunk case in the UK where researchers were alleged to have passed politically sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence agent, which was then provided to a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party.
The head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government, referring to China as a national security threat. CPS said that, while there was sufficient evidence when charges were initially brought against the two men in April 2024, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.
That is just one example of many in which AI can target minutiae in a law and avoid massive consequences later.
It’s not until chapter 27 that they write that security is the most significant major barrier to using AI in democratic applications, and that is something no one seems to be talking about. There’s no trust without security, and the authors write that security appears to be an afterthought in today's AI development.
That was an issue in 2002 when Bill Gates sent his celebrated email to all Microsoft employees announcing the creation of the Trustworthy Computing (TwC) initiative. TwC was created to put security and trust at the forefront for all Microsoft employees. While Microsoft started Trustworthy AI I last year, the industry is still playing catch-up when it comes to securing AI.
The final part of the book deals with ways to ensure that AI benefits democracy. They write that technology will not solve democracy’s problems, but it already has a powerful influence over democracy. They want to shape the emerging technology of AI into a force that can promote good democratic governance, to be used with the best interests of democracy in mind.
They conclude that to build AI that benefits democracy and brings more positive outcomes than harm, society needs organizing principles for those developing and operating AI. These are the same principles any publicly accountable institution must embrace: being capable, available, transparent, responsive, debiased, secure, and non-exploitative.
Democracy has always been inextricably linked with technology. The authors conclude that whether we like it or not, AI is destined to bring changes to our political life and systems of governance.
When it comes to AI, the hype and misunderstanding are overwhelming. The authors cut through all that and provide the reader with a pragmatic, honest look at how AI has impacted and will continue to impact democracy and the democratic process. If you want to understand AI's true power to strengthen and empower democracy, this is a fascinating and essential read.
When I heard about Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press) by Bruce Schneier and Dr. Nathan Sanders, I expected a harsh critique of AI’s impact on democracy, but the book instead presents a nuanced thesis on how AI will transform, rather than simply threaten, our political systems.
Bruce Schneier needs no introduction to those in the world of information security. His co-author, Sanders, is a data scientist, physical scientist, and a teacher at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University.
To me, the authors take an unexpectedly optimistic view of AI’s potential impact on democracy. Their main thesis is that, although AI can be used by oppressive regimes to cause harm, it can also be deliberately leveraged to support democratic values and processes. They provide an insightful exploration of how AI, when properly governed, could bring positive transformation to democracy.
Although AI is still in its infancy, it has already altered much of the democratic process. The authors believe it can be harnessed to strengthen, rather than undermine, democracy.
While governments often work quite slowly and are immune to change (consider the amount of code written on COBOL and FORTRAN running on government systems), the authors write that many governments are already actively using AI. This includes those involved in drafting legislation, judges using it in legal rulings, and more.
The authors write that AI can help make laws more transparent and more consistent. With their superhuman attention spans, AI excels at enforcing syntactic and grammatical rules. They can be effective at drafting text in precise, proper legislative language or at offering detailed feedback to human drafters.
Small details are important and can have significant legal implications. Just recently, a seemingly slam-dunk case in the UK where researchers were alleged to have passed politically sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence agent, which was then provided to a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party.
The head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the case collapsed because evidence could not be obtained from the government, referring to China as a national security threat. CPS said that, while there was sufficient evidence when charges were initially brought against the two men in April 2024, a precedent set by another spying case earlier this year meant China would need to have been labelled a "threat to national security" at the time of the alleged offences.
That is just one example of many in which AI can target minutiae in a law and avoid massive consequences later.
It’s not until chapter 27 that they write that security is the most significant major barrier to using AI in democratic applications, and that is something no one seems to be talking about. There’s no trust without security, and the authors write that security appears to be an afterthought in today's AI development.
That was an issue in 2002 when Bill Gates sent his celebrated email to all Microsoft employees announcing the creation of the Trustworthy Computing (TwC) initiative. TwC was created to put security and trust at the forefront for all Microsoft employees. While Microsoft started Trustworthy AI I last year, the industry is still playing catch-up when it comes to securing AI.
The final part of the book deals with ways to ensure that AI benefits democracy. They write that technology will not solve democracy’s problems, but it already has a powerful influence over democracy. They want to shape the emerging technology of AI into a force that can promote good democratic governance, to be used with the best interests of democracy in mind.
They conclude that to build AI that benefits democracy and brings more positive outcomes than harm, society needs organizing principles for those developing and operating AI. These are the same principles any publicly accountable institution must embrace: being capable, available, transparent, responsive, debiased, secure, and non-exploitative.
Democracy has always been inextricably linked with technology. The authors conclude that whether we like it or not, AI is destined to bring changes to our political life and systems of governance.
When it comes to AI, the hype and misunderstanding are overwhelming. The authors cut through all that and provide the reader with a pragmatic, honest look at how AI has impacted and will continue to impact democracy and the democratic process. If you want to understand AI's true power to strengthen and empower democracy, this is a fascinating and essential read.
December 24, 2025
Nothing ground-breaking here.
Read it if you are not up to date with the latest applications and ethical issues relating to AI especially with regard to politics, government and citizenship. The information is presented in bite-sized chapters.
The Table of Contents gives an idea of what is covered:
Part I: Introduction
1. Artificial Intelligence Meets Democracy
2. How AI Could Affect Democracy
3. Why AI Is Being Used
4. AI’s Core Capabilities
5. Democracy as an Information System
6. Will AI Make Democracy Better?
Part II: AI-Infused Politics
7. Background: Making Mistakes
8. Talking to Voters
9. Conducting Polls
10. Organizing a Political Campaign
11. Fundraising for Politics
12. Being a Politician
Part III: AI-Enhanced Legislators
13. Background: Explaining Itself
14. Background: Who’s to Blame?
15. Listening to Constituents
16. Writing Laws
17. Negotiating Legislation
18. Writing More Complex Laws
19. Empowering Machines
Part IV: The AI-Assisted Administration
20. Background: Exhibiting Values and Bias
21. Background: Augmenting Versus Replacing People
22. Serving People
23. Operating Government
24. Enforcing the Law
25. Enforcing Regulations
Part V: AI-Embodied Courts
26. Background: Being Fair
27. Background: Being Secure
28. Acting as a Lawyer
29. Arbitrating Disputes
30. Reshaping Legislative Intent
31. Being a Judge
Part VI: AI-Enhanced Citizens
32. Background: AI and Power
33. Background: Trustworthy AI
34. Informing the Public
35. Watching the Government
36. Organizing and Building Power
37. Helping You Advocate
38. Acting as Your Personal Political Proxy
Part VII: Ensuring That AI Benefits Democracy
39. Why AI Threatens Democracy
40. How to Build AI for Democracy
41. Principles for AI That Helps Democracy
42. The Right Way to Rewire a Democracy
43. Conclusion
Read it if you are not up to date with the latest applications and ethical issues relating to AI especially with regard to politics, government and citizenship. The information is presented in bite-sized chapters.
The Table of Contents gives an idea of what is covered:
Part I: Introduction
1. Artificial Intelligence Meets Democracy
2. How AI Could Affect Democracy
3. Why AI Is Being Used
4. AI’s Core Capabilities
5. Democracy as an Information System
6. Will AI Make Democracy Better?
Part II: AI-Infused Politics
7. Background: Making Mistakes
8. Talking to Voters
9. Conducting Polls
10. Organizing a Political Campaign
11. Fundraising for Politics
12. Being a Politician
Part III: AI-Enhanced Legislators
13. Background: Explaining Itself
14. Background: Who’s to Blame?
15. Listening to Constituents
16. Writing Laws
17. Negotiating Legislation
18. Writing More Complex Laws
19. Empowering Machines
Part IV: The AI-Assisted Administration
20. Background: Exhibiting Values and Bias
21. Background: Augmenting Versus Replacing People
22. Serving People
23. Operating Government
24. Enforcing the Law
25. Enforcing Regulations
Part V: AI-Embodied Courts
26. Background: Being Fair
27. Background: Being Secure
28. Acting as a Lawyer
29. Arbitrating Disputes
30. Reshaping Legislative Intent
31. Being a Judge
Part VI: AI-Enhanced Citizens
32. Background: AI and Power
33. Background: Trustworthy AI
34. Informing the Public
35. Watching the Government
36. Organizing and Building Power
37. Helping You Advocate
38. Acting as Your Personal Political Proxy
Part VII: Ensuring That AI Benefits Democracy
39. Why AI Threatens Democracy
40. How to Build AI for Democracy
41. Principles for AI That Helps Democracy
42. The Right Way to Rewire a Democracy
43. Conclusion
December 16, 2025
This review also appears on Amazon:
This is a quite comprehensive look at how AI can mostly help democratic processes. It's split into six parts not including the introduction and I think the titles of each section provide good reasons why concerned citizens as well as politicians would benefit from reading this book. 2. AI-infused politics about communication between the citizen and the politician, 3. AI-enhanced legislators about politicians using AI to keep abreast of their field, 4. AI-assisted administration about using AI to cut red tape, 5. AI-embodied courts to perhaps shape legislative intent fairly, 6. AI-enhanced citizens to digest topics of interest to each individual citizen, 7. Ensuring that AI benefits democracy is of course the hardest one because AI can be subverted to cause as much or more harm as good.
This is a quite comprehensive look at how AI can mostly help democratic processes. It's split into six parts not including the introduction and I think the titles of each section provide good reasons why concerned citizens as well as politicians would benefit from reading this book. 2. AI-infused politics about communication between the citizen and the politician, 3. AI-enhanced legislators about politicians using AI to keep abreast of their field, 4. AI-assisted administration about using AI to cut red tape, 5. AI-embodied courts to perhaps shape legislative intent fairly, 6. AI-enhanced citizens to digest topics of interest to each individual citizen, 7. Ensuring that AI benefits democracy is of course the hardest one because AI can be subverted to cause as much or more harm as good.
December 5, 2025
This is an important book for exploring the dangers and benefits of AI. We read a lot about the unauthorized use of intellectual property to train AI systems, but as Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders detail, it’s much more than that. In seven sections that were each conformable to read in one sitting, they cover how AI is transforming our lives for better and worse.
I recently filled out a survey by the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) about which issues such as climate change, voter rights, reproductive rights, etc. I felt were important. AI regulation was not listed. I now have a better awareness of the dangers of unchecked AI and will factor it into future voting decisions.
I recently filled out a survey by the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) about which issues such as climate change, voter rights, reproductive rights, etc. I felt were important. AI regulation was not listed. I now have a better awareness of the dangers of unchecked AI and will factor it into future voting decisions.
December 10, 2025
A book that considers multiple applications of AI, without restricting itself to the most popular LLMs, and does so in a critical manner without devolving into doomsday prediction. However, the language is so dry it is at time difficult to follow. Plenty of advice is given, yet the current state of things doesn't give me a lot of hope that we'll be able to successfully implement the good, pro-democratic ones. Only time will tell.
November 28, 2025
Minuteman. Felt out of date as it predates 2025 governmental changes
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2025
The promise and peril of Government’s use of artificial intelligence.
December 23, 2025
As a municipal practitioner, I found this book to be an informative and practical read that clearly explains how AI may be applied across different levels and functions of government.
December 9, 2025
Really solid read and made me a little less trepidatious around AI adaptation in the public sector. Check out my full review here-
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/...
https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/...
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews