294.28 sec. 001 - AI, Democracy, and Elections (Fall 2025)
Instructor: Lawrence Norden
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Units: 1
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Mode of Instruction: In-Person
Meeting:
W 6:25 PM - 8:15 PM
Location: Law 244
From September 03, 2025
To October 15, 2025
Course End: October 15, 2025
Class Number: 33193
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 0
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 24
As of: 04/04 07:13 AM
This course will provide an overview of AI technologies and how they interact with key democratic principles including transparency, accountability, and participation, as well as the role of law in mediating technological impacts on our democracy.
Among other topics we will explore are the role that AI has and may soon have on election administration, election security, political advertising and communications, voter suppression, disinformation, manipulation, and the ability to gauge public sentiment (including through public comments to government agencies). We will examine the existing legal framework for these topics, the positive and negative ways in which advances in AI may challenge that framework, and what advocates and legislators have suggested are potential ways to address those challenges.
We will also examine some of the more difficult legal questions that are starting to make their way into the courts when it comes to regulating AI in this space. That includes balancing the First Amendment rights of AI developers and social media platforms against the public’s interest in transparency and the integrity of the democratic process, as well as whether Section 230 immunity does or should cover AI developers, and whether AI companies can and should be held liable for election-related harms that flow from their products.
Lawrence Norden is Vice President for the Elections and Government Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. For nearly 20 years, Norden has led the Brennan Center's work on a variety of issues related to U.S. elections and governance, often with a focus on the ways technology and democracy intersect. He is the lead author of the book The Machinery of Democracy: Protecting Elections in an Electronic World (Academy Chicago Press, 2006), and a contributor to Defending Democracies: Combating Foreign Interference in a Digital Age (Oxford University Press, 2021).
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
Exam Notes: (TH) Take-home Final Exam
(Subject to change by faculty member only through the first two weeks of instruction)
Exam Length: 2 hours
Course Category: Social Justice and Public Interest
This course is listed in the following sub-categories:
Intellectual Property and Technology Law
Public Law and Policy
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