Governing Artificial Intelligence: Power, Legitimacy, and Democratic Futures - Tammy Mackenzie

This timely and ambitious volume examines one of the defining challenges of our era: how to ensure that AI serves humanity while also ensuring safety, justice, and democratic values. Bringing together voices across disciplines, the volume moves beyond narrow technical or purely legal debates. It situates AI within the political and sociotechnical systems in which it operates. These systems are shaped by markets, political institutions, cultural norms and prejudices, as well as global power dynamics and the policy preferences that accompany them. Rather than offering easy answers, the volume directly engages with questions. These questions are the difficult trade-offs that policymakers, technologists, and civil society actors must confront. They are the tensions between efficiency and equity, security and civil liberties, and between competitiveness and accountability. In doing so, this volume makes a significant contribution to the ongoing debate about governance in an era of rapid technological transformation. This volume is essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and engaged citizens seeking to navigate the complexities of artificial intelligence. At a moment when society is still learning how to shape AI’s trajectory, this volume offers the tools to shape the conversation.