Artificial Intelligence, Bureaucratic Discretion, and Democratic Administration

Abstract

Since the start of the COVID ‐19 pandemic, many countries have been using artificial intelligence ( AI ) to replace civil service personnel. We argue that this practice undermines core democratic values. Using the public values framework, we identify four clusters of values that are threatened when bureaucratic discretion is transferred to algorithms: accountability, fairness and equity, individual consideration, and reason‐giving. Each of these values is incompatible with how algorithms render decisions. Because algorithms produce outputs based on statistical regularities, they diffuse responsibility across multiple parties, fail to make accurate predictions about anomalous cases, and attenuate citizens' claims to individualized consideration. Thus, this article frames AI adoption as a constitutional question about which decisions can be automated, and which should remain under human control because they implicate democratic values. We propose a centaur model in which AI supports rather than replaces human officials, which can preserve efficiency while protecting democratic governance.