Fixing the Information Crisis Before It's Too Late (for Democracy)

The free flow of information and the exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of our cultural lives and our democracy. Humans need connections to one another like they need air and water. And a democracy needs citizens to exchange information and ideas. That is what democracy is all about: competing ideas in a debate that plays out freely over time. With freedom of thought and expression, democracy thrives. In contrast, the first goal of the tyrant is to control thought and information.  Today we are confronting that challenge. The rise of dominant platforms in the marketplace of ideas threatens journalism, the exchange of information, and the marketplace of ideas. Powerful corporations that stand between citizens and writers, musicians, artists, and journalists exert enormous control and influence. This is a dynamic that is playing out in many different areas. I would like to talk today about journalism, publishing, and AI in particular. These are industries where dominant intermediaries act as gatekeepers to the information commons. And as gatekeepers, they have the ability to extract more than their fair share from both sides of the market. But this is about so much more than the price or output of these products and services. What is at stake is speech itself. Private corporations decide what ideas are worthy, whose voices are amplified, and what messages are disseminated and to whom. What is at stake is the very way in which people gather information and make decisions, and the very existence of the people who live to share their ideas, thoughts, and creations.  

In the absence of competition, there are few if any incentives to compete to offer solutions for common problems. But competition can constrain behavior and even facilitate market-based solutions—whether it be how to fairly compensate creators of content, or how to combat the spread of false information and harmful content online. Today, I would like to talk about three areas where this dynamic is playing out. 1) Journalism is under threat in large part due to consolidation in the advertising market. 2) The trend toward consolidation has threatened another industry necessary for ideas to flourish — publishing. 3)  AI will reshape all of the information and content industries. It will change the way we consume our news. It will affect the way in which content is created. And it will change the way that we interact with information. Without meaningful competition, the same threats that plague journalism will spread to all other content creation markets.