Artificial intelligence (AI) is already helping to decide who gets a job interview, a loan or parole. No one voted for these systems, yet their choices shape daily life.
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Governments are moving fast. The European Union has passed the AI Act. The United States issued an executive order and a federal guidance plan. Britain convened an AI Safety Summit. However, none of these efforts answer the deeper question: do people accept the authority these systems wield? An accurate tool can still fail if the public never grants it legitimacy.
Legitimacy is the quiet foundation of durable institutions. Courts, legislatures and central banks function because many citizens accept how they exercise power, even when outcomes are contested. AI companies hold comparable influence. They moderate speech on platforms used by billions of people. They are building systems that touch medicine, energy, transport and national security. Yet the public has had little say in delegating that authority or setting boundaries for it.
History shows what happens when legitimacy is ignored. Nuclear power was sold in the 1950s as cheap and abundant. Its development was at times shrouded in secrecy. After accidents like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, public confidence withered. Projects stalled for decades. Genetically modified crops in Europe followed a similar arc of strong science, weak consent and lasting resistance.
The Boeing 737 Max tragedies offer another parallel. Software introduced without transparency contributed to two crashes and 346 deaths. The planes returned to service; the damage to their reputation endures. Once trust is lost, rebuilding it costs more than establishing it correctly from the start.
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AI shows the same warning signs. In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed how Facebook data had been harvested and weaponised to influence elections. The breach was not just technical; it violated the basic expectation of consent.