AI does not only make content cheaper to produce. It may also make consensus cheaper to manufacture.
The next challenge for democracy may be artificial agreement, not only artificial information.
I’ve written about this on Substack: baronca.substack.com/p/when-conse...
It exists!
AI language does not only raise the question of truth and lies. It also raises the question of what happens when belonging can be simulated.
I’ve written about it in Substack.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
“It’s a massive data pipeline: phone metadata, location pings, SIM card swaps, app usage, social media behavior, sometimes even banking or facial recognition inputs. A lot is ‘scraped’ from commercial platforms, mobile networks, partner intelligence agencies, or spies on the ground..."
Interdisciplinary PhD offer in Marseille, starting Oct. 2026, on "Collective Problem Solving in Guinea Baboons: From Dyadic Interactions to Group Dynamics"
Project description and application website: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Docto...
DM for more info on the position
The next challenge for democracy may not be fake information, but manufactured agreement.
baronca.substack.com
AI language is not only a problem of truth and lies. It is also a problem of belonging.
substack.com
AI can reduce friction in academic work. But if the most powerful tools become increasingly expensive, the same technology may also help existing advantages compound.
baronca.substack.com/p/the-subscr...
Interesting paper on the impact of blocklists on the Bluesky social graph. Self-recommending.
(will read it again after coffee and likely have more to say then)
Thrilled to announce CS2Nordics: the First Nordic Conference on Computational Social Science. Copenhagen, September 21-22, 2026.
We invite all CSS researchers in the Nordics as well as in the international research community to submit 2-page abstracts by June 19: nosocss.org/conference.h....
Andrea Baronchelli
Andrea Baronchelli
Our new correspondence argues that the impact of conversational AI won’t stay inside the screen.
We need to understand how sustained human–LLM interactions shape connection, agency, resilience, and social life, so that these systems strengthen, rather than erode, our relationships with one another
