The Day After: Prepare the foundations for a new democracy by changing the technological narrative
Michel Biezunski, January 22, 2026.
Where we are
Acknowledge that democracy is severely wounded. Democratic institutions as we know them have been under attack and severely damaged by the current president's administration. This process is still ongoing. When this somber episode ends, it is quite unrealistic to go back to where we were before. We will be left with ruins and will be facing the challenges of reconstruction.
The Day After. It is now time to proactively to think about leveraging technology at the service of democratic goals and propose viable solutions. This will take time to develop into fruition. We must start now to be ready for a new era as soon as the window opens.
Reorient Technology development for the public good. Technology is being used as an excuse to weaken the role of humans, a goal that is aligned with the ways authoritarians expect to maintain their power. But technology is fundamentally neutral. It can alternatively be used to improve human cooperation and make the world a better place for everyone. In a democratic society, technology can at the same time increase the profits of those who know how to deploy it and the benefits that apply to the citizens.
Counter AI-based ideology. We should debunk the mainstream discourse that makes people believe they are becoming powerless because of technology. A counter-propaganda effort is necessary to change the narrative. An efficient way to do this is to create new products showing that technology is not unidirectionally leaning into enslaving its users.
Think big. The scope of the answers must be at the level of the risks that we incur as a species. We need a huge investment in the future, that is large, ambitious and significant enough to make a difference. On the horizon there is a new period of prosperity. To make that happens, big investments are necessary. This is the time to start.
What we can do
Expand the markets
Auditable AI Platform. Create a fully accountable and transparent AI platform, that would only include sources that have explicitly agreed to be included and would make the algorithms transparent and auditable. It will be interesting to compare its results with the AI engines that dig into an undifferentiated mass of good and bad information sources. It is likely that using data from vetted sources only reduces dramatically the size of data centers.
Essential public services. Promote ubiquitous software that respects individual privacy. Creates a software platform to handle email/calendar/contact list/video conference software that is not leaking any private information to third parties (exceptions, if any, to be set by [new] laws). Provide this as a national public service, equivalent to the way mail is distributed by the Post office.
Voting Machines. Accountable software products in the service of democracy that can boost public trust: create open-source voting machine software that would provide trustworthy results because anybody will be able to analyze and reverse-engineer the code.
Open new profitable markets. Analyze the business models of giant tech companies that have monopolized innovation in the field of AI and demonstrate that the innovation they provide is limited to their short-term interests. Show that there are alternative ways to provide technological advances based on different premises that have comparable or even higher business potentials.
Update Democracy
New freedom rights. List the initiatives taken by authoritarians to use technology to limit individual freedoms (social credit in China, cyber-attacks, privacy violations, social media posts used to deny visa applications, etc.). Design the new forms of freedoms that should be protected in the digital world.
Digital Democracy. Understand the weaknesses of democratic institutions established a few centuries ago, and work on new foundations that are needed in a digital economy. Democracy as we know it is a by-product of the printing press. We need to invent a democracy that is a by-product of the digital universe.
New Publishing Paradigm. Analyze how the lack of moderation in social networks is fueling political propaganda by blurring the boundaries between facts and fiction. Contrast this with the way the publishing industry has been established to provide both freedom of speech and accountability. Create a framework to boost a digital publishing industry that includes innovations in copyright.
Legal Framework. Discuss a new legal framework able to address the specific issues raised by the digital society.
Combat authoritarian (ab)uses of technology
Combat ideological abuses. Debunk the ideology behind AI considered as a magical solution that makes humans irrelevant and powerless. Compare concepts in AI to discoveries in neurosciences on human intelligence and illustrate how different these are. The belief that AI is a superior solution is what fuels the destruction of science, higher education, research, legal practice, healthcare, creativity, original thinking and innovation. Additionally, if computers are smarter than humans, human opinions do not matter any more. Therefore the elections are irrelevant.
Improve work satisfaction. Understand the role of AI as just another tool among a diverse technological toolkit. Understand that some tasks may be automated, others not so much. Analyze cases where blind usages of technology become inefficient and counter-productive. Work on understanding how work conditions have become so miserable and why the promise of technology to free humans from menial tasks and make them happier and more productive has not been fulfilled.
Connect worldwide initiatives
Living Catalog of current activities. Many initiatives are under way to attempt to rein in the abuses of AI and to alleviate its destructive potential. These include attempts by several states or countries to promote legislation to protect individual rights, numerous works published by scholars, various projects initiated or being started by several non-profit organizations. These initiatives need to be interconnected worldwide to promote a universal democratic legislative framework.
How to do it
Create a non-government entity, either non-profit or for-profit, with the influx of investment from people with deep pockets who are willing to fund a venture that is aimed at being ready to do a democratic reboot and open new markets as soon as the conditions will permit.
This entity could be based in the US with branches in other countries. It can cooperate with some non-federal governments entities interested to play a role: states and cities, for example the states of California, New York, New Jersey, and cities such as New York City. Branches can be created in other countries facing similar challenges and willing to contribute to the long-term strengthening of democratic values.
There should be several divisions focusing on the development of particular aspects of the global plan of action.
There are many talented persons who have been either forced to quit their job, or have quit their job voluntarily, including in the technology industry, that could be interested in joining the entity. Conditions to hire these persons should be attractive enough to compete with the industry.