AI is creeping into virtually every sector of our lives, carried by a dominant techno-optimist narrative. However, this optimism only thinly veils a structural imbalance: AI is advancing faster than our ability to understand it – and even to justify its economic costs. Left unchecked by societal reflection, evidence and regulation, AI risks undermining the very systems it claims to enhance, among which human development, the markets or even democracy itself.
The list of examples is long – so in this dossier, we choose to highlight a few of them: in childhood development, AI captures children’s attention – and it also competes for their emotional attachment, reshaping how they think, learn and relate to others. Economically, the AI ‘bubble’ is already restructuring economies and power through a slow, capital-driven upheaval. In global politics, AI tools have proven useful for peace-making missions.
And in an unexpected twist, even Silicon Valley now concedes that only strong democratic regulation – not markets – can make AI socially sustainable, opening a strategic window for Europe to play a key role, one rooted in its core values.
Photo credits: Shutterstock/Summit Art Creation
