On Missing Imagination
Reflections from the Athens Democracy Forum on AI, democracy, and the courage to rethink political institutions
BY BEATRIZ REY
The Athens Democracy Forum set a high bar for itself. Fittingly, it took place just steps away from Aristotle’s Lyceum, where the foundations of political thought were once laid. Over several days, among other topics, participants debated the impact of artificial intelligence on democracy and what might happen if we fail to regulate it in time.
I had the chance to attend a special session for Members of Parliament, focused on how AI could reshape their work (more on that next week). Yet even there, amid all the urgency and expertise, what was missing was the very thing we often return to here at ModParl: imagination. In other words, the courage to recognize that the world has already changed and to envision how democracy (and parliaments) must change with it.
I’m not arguing that AI is purely good or that it will only bring positive consequences. Nor am I suggesting that we should stop asking ethical questions about it. How AI will reshape the international balance of power, whether it can become virtuous, and how we can ensure it operates according to human values are all legitimate and necessary questions. Yet the debate should not end there, as it largely did in Athens.
Yannis Assael, the Greek delegate to the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence at the OECD, said something during the panel “Can AI Be Ethical by Design?” that stayed with me:
“AI models are not opaque. The challenge is that equations are hard to read for most humans.”
He also stressed the importance of moving away from the tendency to give AI a human form. In fields such as biology, nuclear fusion, or medicine, AI is used as a model designed to perform specific tasks — as it happens in parliaments. That is precisely why we need to understand these systems better, and faster, so that we can begin rethinking how our political institutions function in this new era.
What was missing in Athens was any space devoted to two essential discussions: first, how AI actually works, and second, how democracy itself might be reimagined based on that knowledge. At ModParl, we have been gathering examples from parliaments that are already experimenting with this. I kept thinking about what countries such as New Zealand and Brazil (not to mention several across Africa) can teach us about AI and democratic innovation. Why was none of that part of the Forum?
Perhaps this is what our conversations about democracy need most right now: less fear of technology and more curiosity about what it can reveal about ourselves. Understanding AI is not just about managing risks; it is about expanding the democratic imagination while recognizing that institutions, like algorithms, are built by people and can be redesigned by them too.
Modern Parliament (“ModParl”) is a newsletter from POPVOX Foundation that provides insights into the evolution of legislative institutions worldwide. Learn more at modparl.substack.com.
