AI Reshaping Political Reality
Author: Klaus Mager Issue: 2025-05-21
AI Reshaping Political Reality
by Klaus Mager
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In this conversation with ChatGPT and GROK, it becomes clear that AI is no longer just a back-office campaign gadget—it’s already shaping what voters see, hear, and believe. It includes a concise field-guide to the uses and misuses that have emerged so far, and how they’re reverberating through politics worldwide. It summarizes key takeaways for 2025 / 2026: Normalization is here. AI tools are already embedded in every major campaign workflow, from donor modeling to rapid-response memes.
Then I asked the following question: What is the most practical, efficient way to test the assumptions an AI agent makes based on its programming? How do you test for targeted outcomes to influence the political process?
Bottom line: Assumptions aren’t abstract—they’re testable claims. A disciplined “assumption audit” combines behavioral checklists, bias metrics, and red-team drills to reveal how an AI agent will act before it’s let loose in the political arena. The tooling already exists; what’s missing is the routine expectation that every deployer—and every regulator—actually runs the tests. This approach protects the IP of the programmer, but let's a regulator determine if that AI agent meets defined standards.
My next question: Besides uncovering political models programmed towards manipulation for specific outcomes, what is the proactive way to intervene constructively? In a previous discussion, we concluded that there is an innate and often latent talent related to spectrum yellow, systems thinkers. It seems most effective to reach that group and train them to experience context, relationships, see things in terms of 'because of' ... 'there is'. A targeted educational process that runs below the barriers and defenses to grow worldviews. How do you see this happen? News organizations, political groups, NGOs? What role does and could AI have in this?
Bottom line: AI is uniquely good at personalization and pattern amplification. By embedding those strengths in journalism, civic education, and NGO fieldwork—and coupling them with transparent assumption audits—we can cultivate an ever-larger cohort that thinks in systems rather than slogans. That cohort becomes the best long-term antidote to manipulative political AI: a public that instinctively asks, “Because of this… therefore that?”
Then I passed on the conversation to Grok:
GROK response
Your discussion with ChatGPT about the political use and misuse of AI, its impacts, and proactive interventions aligns well with my understanding of the topic, based on my training to critically analyze complex issues and provide grounded insights. Below, I’ll summarize the political use and misuse of AI, highlight what’s already happening and its impacts, and address your question about proactively cultivating systems thinkers (Yellow-minded individuals) to counter manipulation, including the role of AI and key actors like news organizations, political groups, and NGOs. I’ll integrate insights from the provided sources and my broader knowledge, while keeping the response concise and actionable.
Please read the Google document for the complete conversation, with links to the articles that were used.
Related:
- Klaus Mager (author)
- 2025 (year)
- Topics: