Democratic Integrity as Objective vs. Constraint

Most AI governance frameworks treat democratic values as constraints, boundaries that limit what systems can do. The alternative: treat democratic integrity as the primary optimization objective itself.

The distinction matters operationally. Constraint-based approaches ask “does this system violate democratic norms?” Objective-based approaches ask “does this system strengthen democratic capacity?”

Constraint framing produces compliance-oriented risk taxonomies. Objective framing produces participatory institutional design. The first treats democracy as a limit on AI. The second treats AI governance as an opportunity to create new mechanisms for participation, accountability, and transparency.

Related: 05-atom—expertocracy-problem, 05-atom—ai-redistributes-epistemic-authority