Summary:
Elon Musk's departure from Doge reveals Silicon Valley's push to replace democratic institutions with digital platforms
Doge's claimed $190bn savings are more about dissolving institutions like USAID than achieving efficiency
The AI-first strategy for government risks degrading institutional activities with untested AI
Silicon Valley's anti-institutionalism dates back to Charles Babbage and Norbert Wiener, advocating for automated governance
Public institutions care for citizens, not customers, and cannot be run like startups
The backlash against Doge highlights the importance of federal support for science, medicine, and culture
A Digital New Deal is needed to reconstruct institutional foundations in the AI era
Elon Musk's recent departure from Doge highlights a growing tension between Silicon Valley's tech utopianism and the institutional infrastructures essential for democracy. Doge's claimed savings of $190bn are less about efficiency and more about the dissolution of institutions, such as USAID, under the guise of innovation.
This administration's push for an "AI-first strategy" in government, as outlined in the executive order Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, is a thinly veiled attempt to degrade institutional activities by replacing them with untested Silicon Valley AI.
Silicon Valley's anti-institutionalism traces back to the roots of computing, with figures like Charles Babbage and Norbert Wiener advocating for automated governance over public institutions. This ideology has evolved into the "lean startup" method, which prioritizes data-driven optimizations over human judgment.
However, public institutions are not startups. They care for citizens, not customers. The push to replace democratic institutions with digital platforms risks creating a platform-archy where black-box AI makes decisions once made through democratic processes.
The backlash against Doge has been swift, with many realizing the importance of federal support for science, medicine, and culture. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley's growth has stalled, leading to a desperate bet on AI, which often hallucinates and misleads.
The solution may lie in a Digital New Deal, a public plan to reconstruct institutional foundations in the AI era. This requires more than just restoring funds; it demands forceful assertions about the regulatory value of public goods like journalism, libraries, and higher education.
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