The Open Future and Its Enemies

How Can We Protect Free Society from an AI Dictatorship?

Artificial intelligence is seen as a driving force for progress, but it has long been a challenge to democracy. The authors view AI as a fundamental issue of power and democracy, analyzing the conflict between algorithmic control and democratic self-determination. Their central thesis: the future is open; people shape it with their imagination, through public dialogue, and on the basis of pluralism. Anyone who increasingly delegates decision-making to automated systems and seeks to control the future through AI misunderstands the limits of this technology and jeopardizes freedom. How can we succeed in preserving this open future, and thus, an open society?

Uncontrolled AI will undermine our freedom, our right to self-determination, and our democracy. Therefore, established democracies must not leave their future in the hands of a coalition of Big Tech and the far right. AI must be politically restrained and democratically guided to ensure the continued sovereignty of humanity. The book highlights the technical limitations of supposedly superior intelligence, debunks ideological promises of salvation, and describes the concentration of power within the digital economy. It also offers practical proposals for policy action to ensure a better future: intelligent regulation, consistent enforcement of European law, decentralization, and digital sovereignty.