Democracy Dialogues: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Latin American Democracy

Speakers:

• Moisés Naím, Distinguished Fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Eric Farnsworth, Vice President, Americas Society/Council of the Americas

"This is a humanity story. AI is going to affect everyone, everywhere at the same time," said Moisés Naím, author and distinguished fellow at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a conversation with AS/COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth. The two discussed the uncertainties and implications of AI and other emerging technologies globally and in the Western Hemisphere. Speaking on the dual nature of technology, Naím explained, “All technologies are a double-edged sword. They can be used for good or bad, that can be used by governments and activists.”

Farnsworth asked what democracy activists can do to make sure AI and emerging technologies benefit democratic governments rather than authoritarianism and corruption. Naím responded: “Information, education, legislation, all kinds of things that try to compensate the vacuum that existed in the past decade or so, in which autocrats took power.”

Democracy Dialogues is a series of conversations we need to be having now on the state of democracy in the Americas. Hosted by Eric Farnsworth, these one-on-one interviews with leading democracy practitioners explore the most difficult issues of regional democratic governance with an eye toward pragmatic, well-calibrated solutions.

Past featured guests have included Colombia's then-President Ivan Duque, NBA Basketball Star Enes Kanter Freedom, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, CubaDecide founder Rosa Maria Paya, Editor-in-Chief of Americas Quarterly Brian Winter, and founder and Editor of Nicaragua's Confidential Carlos Fernando Chamorro.

Follow the conversation: #DemocracyDialogues | @ASCOA

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