The Digitalist Papers series presents an array of possible futures that the AI revolution might produce.
A roadmap of possibilities for the future of AI from some of the brightest minds in academia, industry, and civil society.
Just as the Federalist Papers of the 18th century analyzed the great challenges of the day and provided a roadmap of institutional innovation for the young nation, today, we need a similar ambition of imagination.
The Digitalist Papers aims to bridge domains and disciplines by assembling experts from multiple fields—including economics, law, technology, management, and political science—alongside industry, and civil society leaders. The series is curated by renowned scholars and leaders Erik Brynjolfsson, Alex "Sandy" Pentland, Nathaniel Persily, and Condoleezza Rice, and features contributions from 19 thought leaders who bring their unique disciplinary expertise.
In the first volume of The Digitalist Papers series, contributors were invited to apply their disciplinary tools and domain expertise to address two key questions:
First, how has AI changed the world, and what are the implications for democratic institutions, governance, and leadership
Second, what is your vision for the future, and how do you plan to achieve it?
Meet the contributors
Each author in The Digitalist Papers offers a unique perspective and collectively expresses a vision in which our democratic institutions and society can thrive in a world of powerful digital technologies like artificial intelligence.
The Digitalist Papers create a space for ambitious vision-setting, thoughtful examination, and deliberate strategizing.
Institutional partners
The Stanford Digital Economy Lab brings together an interdisciplinary group of passionate researchers to study how digital technologies are transforming work, organizations, and the economy.
Support the Stanford Digital Economy Lab’s mission
Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)
The mission of HAI is to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition. Led by faculty from multiple departments across Stanford, research focuses on developing AI technologies inspired by human intelligence; studying, forecasting and guiding the human and societal impact of AI; and designing and creating AI applications that augment human capabilities.
The Stanford Cyber Policy Center brings together researchers across the Stanford campus to solve the biggest issues in cybersecurity, governance, and the future of work.
With its eminent scholars and world-renowned Library and Archives, the Hoover Institution is a public policy think tank that seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity, while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind.
Project Liberty is stitching together an ecosystem of technologists, academics, policymakers and citizens committed to building a better internet—where the data is ours to manage, the platforms are ours to govern, and the power is ours to reclaim.
Acknowledgments
In this volume, a distinguished group of authors contribute their unique voices and perspectives on the topic of how artificial intelligence may alter our society and democracy. Each article presents a compelling vision grounded in expertise. We thank the authors for taking on this challenge, for sharing their insights and ideas that will spark both academic and policy conversations about the role of digital technologies and the future of AI in a democratic society.
This volume would not have been possible without the generous support of Project Liberty Institute and its founder, Frank McCourt, and the contributions and insights of the Institute staff led by Tomicah Tillemann and Jeb Bell.
The work in this volume benefited from the comments and input of a diverse group of generous reviewers and advisors, who gifted us their time and expertise. They provided thoughtful comments, participated in a conference to workshop the selected articles, and provided formative insights throughout the editorial process. These individuals include Jon Atwell, Christof Brandtner, Joshua Cohen, Bill Dahut, Sean Donahue, José Ramón Enríquez, Sam Fankuchen, Henry Farrell, Howard Gardner, Vern Glaser, James Grimmelmann, Andrew James Grotto, Anika Heavener, Daniel Ho, Young Mie Kim, Anton Korinek, Lisa Lacasse, Mark Lemley, Megan Ma, Houda Nait El Barj, Gina Neff, Ali Noorani, Josiah Ober, Paul Pfleiderer, Alex Poscente, Erica Robles-Anderson, Johann Shudlick, Rebecca Slayton, Mitchell L. Stevens, JP Vergne, and Wilson Wong. The process of bringing this edited volume into existence demonstrates the benefits of collaboration between academics from different disciplinary fields, together with non-academics, including leading voices from civil society, philanthropy, and industry.
Stanford University’s support took this project from an ambitious idea to reality. We acknowledge the pivotal role played by the Stanford Office of Development, which was instrumental in helping us articulate the vision from the outset and shepherding the process to ensure we could carry out this important work. We extend our deep gratitude to Kathy Veit, Krysten Hommel, and Maura McGinnity. Additionally, we thank Rob Reich for his thought partnership in the early days of developing this project.
Much appreciation is due also to the teams supporting our faculty leads, whose efforts were crucial in bringing this idea to fruition. These include Christie Ko, Megan Deason, and Shawneric Hachey from the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and especially Susan Young, who tirelessly orchestrated activity across every aspect of this project. We also thank Tara Wright, David Havasay, and Michelle Pualuan from the Stanford Cyber Policy Center; and Stephanie Hall, Caroline Beswick, and Laureen Schieron from the Hoover Institution. A special thank you goes to the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence communications and events team, including Carolyn Lehman, Kaci Peel, Madeleine Wright, Annie Benisch, and Michael Martin, for organizing key events that facilitated idea development and dissemination.
We also acknowledge Eden Beck for her meticulous copyediting and Alexander Atkins for his exceptional design and production work, both of whom graciously worked under time pressure to bring this volume to completion.
Photo credits
Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress, AAD/Firefly