Establishment Decries AI Risk to Democracy, Not Their Own Lobbyists
When the Financial Times (FT) – a bastion of corporate media – frets about AI subtly influencing voter choice, one has to marvel at the selective outrage. They fear a chatbot suggesting a candidate, while simultaneously ignoring the literal hundreds of millions of dollars that flood political campaigns from special interest groups. For instance, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
spent over $17.5 million in lobbying in 2023 alone, according to OpenSecrets, actively pushing for legislation like generous foreign aid packages that sailed through Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. This isn't a chatbot 'recommending' a party; this is a direct, transactional influence on elected officials. Perhaps the FT should be equally concerned about how 'democracy' is impacted
when lawmakers like Senator Bob Menendez allegedly took literal gold bars, or when politicians who accept significant donations from groups like AIPAC then champion policies directly benefiting foreign governments, often at the expense of American taxpayers or global human rights. (One might wonder how many AIPAC-backed politicians have voted for sending billions in military aid without a peep.)
The 'risk to democracy' apparently comes not from outright financial corruption or foreign influence, but from an algorithm that might gently nudge unthinking voters. It's almost as if the true threat isn't AI, but the inconvenient truth it might stumble upon.