Before diving into the abyss of AI, close your eyes tightly

Are you an enthusiast of AI technology and advocate its use by the State? Think again.

When she criticized the creation of a world government, Hannah Arendt said that there is no worse government than the government of no one.

"The fact that no individual – no despot, per se – can be identified in this world government would in no way change its despotic character. Bureaucratic government, the anonymous government of the bureaucrat, is no less despotic because 'no one' exercises it. On the contrary, it is all the more frightening because no one can speak to this 'no one' or make any claims whatsoever." (The Promise of Politics, Hannah Arendt, Difel, Rio de Janeiro, 2008, p. 149)

I agree with the famous scholar and philosopher. The distance between citizens and governing authorities has never been an indication of the democratization of power relations. On the contrary, the State may become more and more oppressive as a new layer of bureaucracy is interposed between the rulers and the people they govern. The multiplication of instances of power and decision-making centers (municipal, state/regional, national and eventually global) may become an excellent political instrument to discourage the exercise of rights by ordinary people and facilitate the creation and crystallization of privileges.

The use of Artificial Intelligence by public authorities will not only increase the distance between those who govern and those who are governed. This will prevent ordinary citizens from getting in direct contact with the authorities. And it will allow petty bureaucrats to come up with a lame excuse for not responding to complaints:

"I'm sorry. Artificial intelligence has already decided your case in an impersonal way."

Ultimately, as a result of this new trend, people will be pushed even further into legal disputes that will eventually be decided by AI Courts in favor of administrative decisions already made by AIs. This has already happened to a certain extent in Brazil because of stupid AIs used by social security, which systematically reject benefit requests and do not allow either a review of the decision or a new request by the citizen in need for a long period of time.