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Algorithmic Optimism, Democratic Reality

A review of Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (The MIT Press, 2025).

Lawfare
December 19, 2025

It is telling that when admitted artificial intelligence (AI) optimists write a book about how AI can have a significant positive impact on democracy, they want their readers to know they did not use AI to help them write their book. That is exactly what Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders do in Rewiring Democracy: “While we see many useful applications of AI, we wrote this book ourselves. All the ideas and words are our own or stemming from those we have cited or acknowledged.” It’s a revealing disclaimer. If AI holds as much promise to enhance productivity, creativity, and fairness as the authors insist, why not enlist it in the act of authorship? Implicitly, Schneier and Sanders’s disclaimer suggests that despite AI’s speed and scope, there remains something distinctly human—perhaps even superior—about thought unassisted by AI…

Ben Rothke
Medium
December 15, 2025

Excerpt

As the year ends, here is my list of the Best Information Security Books of 2025.

Information security book of the year—Rewiring Democracy

The Gartner Hype Cycle is a graphical model that represents the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific technologies. It has five phases: innovation trigger, peak of inflated expectations, trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment, and plateau of productivity. It is designed to help organizations assess the potential risks and benefits of new technologies.

When it comes to hype, nothing compares to AI. Yet even with all the hype, there is still immeasurable value. In …

In “Rewiring Democracy,” Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explore how AI could strengthen democracy or undermine it.

Kevin Dickinson
Big Think
December 9, 2025

Key Takeaways

AI’s impact on democracy depends less on the technology itself and more on how people choose to apply it.
Schneier and Sanders argue that governments and citizens must demand responsible uses of AI that enhance speed, fairness, and accessibility in public systems.
Without strong, activity-based regulation and public alternatives, AI risks concentrating political power and accelerating authoritarian tendencies.

You’d be forgiven for thinking AI represents a classic Faustian bargain, as every reported blessing seems tied to a sinister curse…

Readers need not be computer science graduates to understand the critical points being made. The result is a book that speaks to policymakers, civic technologists, and public servants without burying them in jargon.

Samuel Ross
The Cascadia Advocate
December 7, 2025

Artificial intelligence has become perhaps the top buzzword of the decade. It has become impossible to walk a block without hearing an ad, seeing a sign on a bus, or eavesdropping into a conversation without noting the presence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, or an offering from a Silicon Valley startup.

Evident in the latest round of layoffs in greater Seattle, eager Big Tech executives are plowing ahead on a dangerous course they’ve charted. It is exhausting to find ourselves, once again, being sold every moment of our lives by a faceless corporation…

Ellsworth Toohey
Boing Boing
December 4, 2025

Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders are asking the right question in their new book Rewiring Democracy: not whether AI will change politics, but how we can shape that change. The cybersecurity expert (behind Data and Goliath) and data scientist tackle something most AI discussions skip entirely—the nitty-gritty of democratic governance.

Their timing couldn’t be better. AI is already being used to draft legislation, analyze court documents, and run local political campaigns (most politics happens at low budgets, they point out, where AI tools can level the playing field for first-time candidates). The authors argue that AI amplifies power—and the crucial question is whose power gets amplified…

A thorough examination of artificial intelligence’s promise in politics rests on a thorny premise: democracy is an information system.

Virginia Eubanks
Nature
November 18, 2025

Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders MIT Press (2025)

The tsunami of writing on artificial intelligence tends towards either bald hype or panicked dystopianism. Proponents say that AI will revolutionize health care, drive business growth and become our new best friend. But for its critics, AI could cause massive unemployment, perpetuate fake news and pose an extinction risk to humankind.

In Rewiring Democracy, cybersecurity expert Bruce Schneier and data scientist Nathan Sanders offer a welcome middle path by focusing on practical politics. In a heartfelt, if workmanlike, way, they craft a framework for maximizing the democratic potential of AI. Yet, by shrinking and distorting the vexing political challenges that the world faces today to fit a single solution—AI—they short-change the frustrating glories of living together as human beings…

Ben Rothke
RSA Conference
November 4, 2025

At the Infosec World 2025 conference last week, AI dominated discussions and vendor displays. One sparsely attended speaker joked that including AI in the title of his talk would have drawn a larger crowd.

When I heard about Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (MIT Press) by Bruce Schneier and Dr. Nathan Sanders, I expected a harsh critique of AI’s impact on democracy, but the book instead presents a nuanced thesis on how AI will transform, rather than simply threaten, our political systems…

‍Global security expert Bruce Schneier joins University of Toronto’s Munk School and the Schwartz Reisman Institute as a visiting fellow to tackle one of today’s defining questions: how can we build AI systems—and societies—that people can truly trust?

Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Policy
October 28, 2025

Few thinkers have done more to reframe how we understand security in a networked world than Bruce Schneier. To him, security isn’t just about cryptography or code—it’s about trust, power, and the human choices embedded in every system we build.

For three decades, Schneier has asked what it really means to be secure, and who gets to decide. From designing cryptographic algorithms to writing bestselling books that redefined public conversations on privacy and power, the Harvard-based security expert has become one of the world’s most trusted interpreters of how technology shapes society…

Maya Y. Fu, Helia M. Hung, and Adelaide L.D. Roger
The Harvard Crimson
October 23, 2025

Cambridge’s local elections are just around the corner—and scientists Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders said that artificial intelligence will be a critical tool to help inform voters before they head to the polls.

Schneier and Sanders, a Harvard Kennedy School lecturer, co-authored the book "Rewiring Democracy" that was released on Oct. 21. The two appeared at a Cambridge Public Library panel to share more about how citizens can use AI to get involved in politics on Wednesday evening.

They noted that Cambridge’s municipal elections on Nov. 4 are a prime opportunity for voters to use AI. With the most crowded field of candidates in recent memory, Schneier—a New York Times bestselling author—said the technology can be used to help summarize information about candidates…

Thomas Claburn
The Register
June 11, 2025

Security guru Bruce Schneier played the skunk at the garden party in a Thursday federal hearing on AI’s use in the government, focusing on the risks many are ignoring.

“The other speakers mostly talked about how cool AI was—and sometimes about how cool their own company was—but I was asked by the Democrats to specifically talk about DOGE and the risks of exfiltrating our data from government agencies and feeding it into AIs,” Schneier explained in a blog post.

DOGE stands for the Department of Government Efficiency. It’s a White House initiative, run until recently by centi-billionaire Elon Musk, that has been rifling through government databases and ordering layoffs at various government agencies in the name of cost savings and efficiency. Its staff cuts have been so extensive that the Trump administration reportedly …

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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.

Schneier on Security

News in the Category "Text"

Algorithmic Optimism, Democratic Reality

A review of Bruce Schneier and Nathan E. Sanders, Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship (The MIT Press, 2025).

The Best Information Security Books of 2025

Information security book of the year—Rewiring Democracy

AI Is a Power Amplifier. The Future Depends on Who Turns the Dials.

In “Rewiring Democracy,” Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explore how AI could strengthen democracy or undermine it.

Key Takeaways

Book Review: Rewiring Democracy Offers a Nuanced Examination of AI’s Impact on Our Civic and Social Fabric

Readers need not be computer science graduates to understand the critical points being made. The result is a book that speaks to policymakers, civic technologists, and public servants without burying them in jargon.

How AI Could Save Democracy Instead of Destroying It

AI Has a Democracy Problem—Here’s Why

A thorough examination of artificial intelligence’s promise in politics rests on a thorny premise: democracy is an information system.

Ben’s Book of the Month: Rewiring Democracy

SRI Appoints Bruce Schneier as Visiting Senior Policy Fellow

‍Global security expert Bruce Schneier joins University of Toronto’s Munk School and the Schwartz Reisman Institute as a visiting fellow to tackle one of today’s defining questions: how can we build AI systems—and societies—that people can truly trust?

Tech Experts See Artificial Intelligence as a Key Resource Ahead of Local Elections

Schneier Tries to Rip the Rose-Colored AI Glasses from the Eyes of Congress