Democracies augment their bureaucratic decision-making increasingly with artificial intelligence (AI). This AI-augmentation is a threat to democratic governance. And this threat is much deeper than is commonly understood, or so I argue in this paper: The usual metrics to assess AI risks and benefits—i.e., bias, or procedural and substantive fairness—fail to capture the full extent to which the AI-augmented state undermines democracy. Instead, norms of responsible public service offer a more comprehensive basis for assessing AI’s risks and benefits.

Through case studies, I show how public servants uphold democracy by exercising expertise, maintaining stability, resisting political pressure, and serving the public interest. AI may undermine these implicit practices. I also suggest that public service norms can guide AI governance in evaluating and suggesting policies. Such policies may include stricter validation requirements for high-stakes applications, “job protections” for AI models to prevent swift overhauls by new administrations, and limits on automation in domains where human discretion remains essential.