AI threatens democracy. But we are not powerless: here’s how to fight back | Carine Fouteau

Big tech companies pose an immeasurable threat: socially, politically, militarily and ecologically. They are also causing a profound crisis of information. The tools they design now serve as weapons of mass destruction against democracy. There is so much at stake that an urgent and broad mobilisation is required.

From the harvesting of personal data and the weaponisation of public opinion, to the destruction of jobs, the infringement of civil liberties and environmental damage, ordinary citizens are the main victims of this predatory economy – an economy with an agenda that aligns with the interests of the planet’s most authoritarian and reactionary states.

The threats facing the information landscape affect us all. Journalists of my generation have witnessed four major digital revolutions: the internet, social media, smartphones, and now, artificial intelligence. What fundamentally changes with AI is our relationship with the truth. For big tech companies, the boundary between truth and falsehood has vanished. This makes it essential to reaffirm the role of public-interest journalism. Our mission is to publish information that is in the public interest by seeking the factual truth, standing against “fake news” and propaganda. Our mission is to help create a democratic public sphere that serves citizens.

Yet AI companies are completely reshaping this space to their own advantage; their mission is not the public interest, but generating profits. Their methods include plundering news outlets without authorisation or compensation. By disseminating so-called summaries of our reporting, they siphon off our audiences and revenue, serving the private interests of a select few at the expense of the common good.

The difference between AI-generated content and a real news article is journalism. AI-generated responses are not information. They are merely a logical assembly of words that all too often produces falsehoods, distorts facts and misinterprets information. A real news article is something else entirely. Quality journalism is the product of expertise guided by ethical standards: persuading sources to speak, painstakingly gathering eye-witness testimonies, cross-referencing, verifying and establishing facts. This process relies on reporting or investigative work – in other words, human effort in the field.

Good journalism organises and prioritises information, providing context and nuance; AI, by contrast, levels everything down to the lowest common denominator and breeds confusion. Journalism uncovers facts that certain parties – particularly economic and political powers – would prefer to see hidden, ignored, or suppressed. Generative AI uncovers nothing, it merely regurgitates and condenses existing material.

Quality journalism comes at a high price. Some of the costs can’t even be quantified. Journalists who report from war zones for example, risk their lives. Mediapart’s recent investigation into Jordan Bardella, the head of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, has resulted in anonymous cyber-harassment and death threats against our editorial team.

Ultimately, media outlets are accountable for the information they publish. They answer to the courts and to their readers. AI companies appear answerable only to their shareholders. They refuse to vouch for the reliability of their conversational agents to evade legal liability. If nothing is done to stop it, this pillaging will result in the destruction of journalism. This is dangerous not just for news publishers, but for all of us, because it signifies the demise of a public sphere defined by free, pluralistic and democratic discourse.

Do we want a public sphere that guarantees access to reliable, independent information, or one governed by algorithms that amplify fake news, deepfakes and propaganda – fuelling fear, anger and division?

Fortunately, the tech companies have sown the seeds of their own downfall. Since they are bleeding dry the very sources of information from which they derive their profits, they are courting their own failure; without quality information, they will produce nothing but AI slop.

This is precisely where we find leverage. OpenAI has admitted that it would be impossible to train today’s leading AI models without using copyrighted material. A Microsoft vice-president acknowledged that training models on quality content significantly improves the quality of output.

The priority is to act collectively, pressuring these platforms by every available means – including legal action – to uphold the rights of the press and the public. Some newspapers, such as the New York Times, have taken legal action. Its publisher, AG Sulzberger, recently cited a figure of $20m spent on litigation. Legal proceedings are also under way in France – notably through the organisation responsible for collecting press-related neighbouring rights.

Beyond pressuring lawmakers at national and European level, we must broaden our fightback to include the entire research and knowledge community – stakeholders who, like us, are committed to the public interest and factual truth.

It falls to us, as journalists, to convince the public that our work is an essential part of democracy. We have to demonstrate that our reporting – aimed at holding power to account – has real impact and drives change; that it makes sense of a rapidly shifting world and serves as a powerful catalyst for civic action.

• Carine Fouteau is president and publishing director of the French investigative news outlet Mediapart

• Mediapart is hosting Hacking Big Tech, a public event about technology, AI and democracy in partnership with the Guardian, in Paris on Saturday 17 October 2026. The conference will be live-streamed free on Mediapart’s website, app and YouTube channel and can be accessed here from 1pm CEST on 17 October