A thread through the archive · 58 essays

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Information, accountability and the changing relationship between citizens and power.

Issue 157

AI in Practice

The environment and the decision

Ivan Sverdlick explains how Sustantiva is redesigning workflows around AI, shared knowledge and deliberate points for human judgement, beyond automating individual tasks.

Ivan Sverdlick30 September 20269 min read Analysis

Issue 153

Government & Public Services

It would take gods to give laws to humans

Pablo Martín Diez reviews José Ignacio Latorre’s proposal for a social contract encompassing nature, humanity and AI, examining legitimacy and concentrated power.

Pablo Martín Diez2 September 20265 min read Review & commentary

Issue 152

Government & Public Services

What remains to be governed: seven lessons from the summer historIAs of 2026

Seven political lessons from the 2026 summer fiction: meaningful oversight, public choices, autonomy, accountability, resilience, attention and a shared reality.

Fernando Nieto Lobato26 August 202617 min read Retrospective

Issue 151

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

The law everyone supported

A fictional public consultation explores how personalised explanations can make a policy accessible while hiding the common choices citizens need to debate.

Fernando Nieto Lobato19 August 20266 min read Fiction

Issue 150

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

The automated opposition

When AI makes political accusations cheap, a fictional MP discovers how the competition for attention can displace serious public scrutiny.

Fernando Nieto Lobato12 August 20265 min read Fiction

Issue 143

AI in Practice

Trying SillyTavern as a space for political debate with AI

A first-person SillyTavern experiment with five synthetic political profiles, exploring its value for preparing questions and its limits as social research.

Fernando Nieto Lobato24 June 202613 min read Practical experiment

Issue 140

Government & Public Services

From the Vatican to Silicon Valley: the encyclical that turned AI into a moral dispute about power

The global debate around Magnifica humanitas: AI, moral authority, technological power, Anthropic and the common good.

Fernando Nieto Lobato3 June 202614 min read Analysis

Issue 131

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

The new watchdogs of power: how AI is democratising public scrutiny

AI is lowering the barriers to public scrutiny. The question is how democratic institutions will respond to these new civic capabilities.

Fernando Nieto Lobato1 April 20268 min read Analysis

Issue 130

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Artificial intelligence and electoral disinformation: lessons from Chile and Argentina for democratic governance in Latin America

Eight Fundación Botín programme participants examine AI-amplified electoral disinformation in Chile and Argentina and the institutional responses Latin America needs.

Martín Telleria; María Fernanda Pech Novelo; Steeven Johannes Flor Pio; Genesis Dejaneyra Cadenasso Correa; Maria Antônia de Medeiros Dantas Costa; Valentina Silva Schmidt; Katherine Lizeth Bernal Santos; Samuel José Vega Martínez25 March 20266 min read Analysis

Issue 125

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Super Bowl LX: half-time as a fault line between political assertion and the AI war

Super Bowl advertising as miniature political theory: AI companies compete over trust, convenience, business models and cultural legitimacy.

Fernando Nieto Lobato18 February 20265 min read Analysis

Issue 119

Government & Public Services

Will politics rise to the challenge of AI in 2026? Five new requests from estrategIA

A critical review of political responses to AI in 2025 and five demands for 2026: state capacity, scaled services, literacy, shared truth and a new social contract.

Fernando Nieto Lobato7 January 202612 min read Analysis

Issue 116

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Your brother-in-law, the prawns and AI: a Christmas survival guide for estrategIA readers

A humorous Christmas guide to five familiar arguments about AI, from bubbles and jobs to energy use and disinformation, with a political and governance perspective.

Fernando Nieto Lobato17 December 202510 min read Analysis

Issue 115

AI in Practice

Instant visual communication: Nano Banana Pro examples for campaigns and public administrations

Ten historical image-generation demonstrations, with full prompts, retained examples and the author's warning to verify generated data.

Fernando Nieto Lobato10 December 202518 min read Practical experiment

Issue 111

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

How to counter the liar’s dividend: procedures for checking and verifying information with AI

Five defensive verification workflows and practical tools for using AI to counter disinformation while preserving human judgement.

Fernando Nieto Lobato12 November 202511 min read Analysis

Issue 102

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Campaigns in the age of AI: global lessons from 2024

Ignacio Martín Granados examines a global study of AI use in the 2024 elections and its lessons for campaigns, public trust and democratic integrity.

Ignacio Martín Granados10 September 20255 min read Analysis

Issue 100

Government & Public Services

One hundred issues on: politics still has its back turned to advances in AI

On estrategIA's hundredth issue, Fernando reflects on the widening gap between AI progress and political engagement.

Fernando Nieto Lobato27 August 20256 min read Retrospective

Issue 097

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

The bot union: a technology strike in the middle of August

A Claude Sonnet 4 satire imagines a union of bots, a technology strike and the rediscovery of civic debate.

Fernando Nieto Lobato6 August 20254 min read Fiction

Issue 095

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Room to sleep: a day in the life of a campaign manager in 2032

A Kimi K2 story follows a campaign manager through a day of AI systems, ethical safeguards and human decisions in 2032.

Fernando Nieto Lobato23 July 20254 min read Fiction

Issue 094

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

The voice of the algorithm that learned to dream

A Grok 4 summer fable set in Mexico City in 2045 explores civic participation, empathy and an AI that learns from human stories.

Fernando Nieto Lobato16 July 20254 min read Fiction

Issue 092

AI in Practice

Artificial intelligence in Cuba's informal currency market

Alejandro Ulloa García explains how elTOQUE uses AI and public online offers to estimate exchange rates in Cuba.

Alejandro Ulloa García2 July 202513 min read Analysis

Issue 086

AI in Practice

Repeating the AI election experiment a year later — with our students: what has changed in twelve months

A repeat of estrategIA’s election experiment with ALEPH students explores human judgement, reasoning models, deep research and new campaign tools.

Fernando Nieto Lobato21 May 202514 min read Practical experiment

Issue 085

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Who should decide in the age of artificial intelligence? Ethics, prudence and human dignity in the face of algorithmic power

Pablo Martín Diez reviews Adela Cortina's case for an ethical, democratic approach to AI grounded in human dignity, practical wisdom and public dialogue.

Pablo Martín Diez14 May 20255 min read Review & commentary

Issue 080

AI in Practice

Ten uses for ChatGPT's new image-generation system: how easy AI image creation could redraw political communication

Thirty-one preserved images illustrate ten historical GPT-4o experiments in visual political communication, with complete prompts and accessible English text.

Fernando Nieto Lobato9 April 202515 min read Practical experiment

Issue 078

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

AI on official accounts: viral play, threat or distortion?

Martín Sosa Dirié examines AI imagery on official political accounts and asks whether viral reach enriches or trivialises public discourse.

Martín Sosa Dirié26 March 20257 min read Analysis

Issue 075

AI in Practice

February, the month of AI “deep research”: introducing and testing three major tools

A March 2025 test of OpenAI, Perplexity and xAI research tools on electoral systems and Spanish polling, with complete historical evaluation tables.

Fernando Nieto Lobato5 March 202511 min read Practical experiment

Issue 067

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

From simulation to strategy: new AI developments that will transform political communication

A guest essay on simulated populations, AI agents and the opportunities and limits of predicting human behaviour for political communication.

Martín Sosa Dirié8 January 20256 min read Analysis

Issue 062

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Operación Retuit: AI as a shield for Venezuelan journalism

César Batiz recounts how Venezuelan and Colombian journalists used AI avatars and media alliances to report under censorship and protect their colleagues.

César Batiz4 December 20245 min read Analysis

Issue 060

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

SocialAI: an ally for political communication

Carlos Guadián explores political role-play with SocialAI through simulated US election messages and debates over Mexico's judicial reform.

Carlos Guadián20 November 20249 min read Practical experiment

Issue 058

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

AI Steve and candidacies based on artificial intelligence

Fernando Domínguez Sardou examines AI Steve's parliamentary campaign and what generative AI could contribute to the relationship between citizens and their representatives.

Fernando Domínguez Sardou6 November 20244 min read Analysis

Issue 057

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Technological nightmares: science fiction’s most dangerous AIs and their terrifying echoes in reality

A Halloween essay by Pablo Martín Diez uses science fiction to explore AI alignment, emotional manipulation and the risk of willingly surrendering human control.

Pablo Martín Diez30 October 20244 min read Essay

Issue 056

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Humanity at its final frontier

Pablo Martín Diez examines Harari’s Nexus, digital empires and four principles for protecting democratic life in an age of AI.

Pablo Martín Diez23 October 20244 min read Review & commentary

Issue 054

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Generative artificial intelligence in politics: opportunities, challenges and the search for democratic ethics

Javier Naranjo Sanjuan explores generative AI’s political uses, transparency and democratic ethics through an experimental custom GPT for estrategIA.

Javier Naranjo Sanjuan9 October 20248 min read Analysis

Issue 053

AI in Practice

estrategIA’s first anniversary: testing ChatGPT’s new voice for political communication

On estrategIA’s first anniversary, Fernando Nieto Lobato tests ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode as a political debate sparring partner.

Fernando Nieto Lobato2 October 20247 min read Practical experiment

Issue 052

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

From scepticism to acclaim: AI takes centre stage at ACOP’s Seventh International Congress

Pablo Martín Diez reports on AI, disinformation and the future of political communication at ACOP’s 2024 congress.

Pablo Martín Diez25 September 20244 min read Report

Issue 049

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Five clues to what awaits us in artificial intelligence before the end of the year

A September 2024 outlook on new models, synthetic media, falling costs, mass adoption and the technologies expected to reach the public that autumn.

Fernando Nieto Lobato4 September 20248 min read Analysis

Issue 048

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (8 and final): reflecting on the summer stories

Seven themes drawn from the summer fiction series: efficiency, human connection, ethical judgement, democratic control and collaboration with AI.

Fernando Nieto Lobato28 August 20244 min read Retrospective

Issue 047

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (7)

Grok 2 mini supplies the final summer story: an AI candidate faces a human activist who questions its promise to optimise collective happiness.

Fernando Nieto Lobato21 August 20243 min read Fiction

Issue 046

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (6)

An updated Gemini model tells the story of Perseo, an AI policy adviser whose impeccable calculations raise disturbing ethical questions.

Fernando Nieto Lobato14 August 20242 min read Fiction

Issue 045

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (5)

Created with Mistral Large 2, this story follows ATHENA, an AI cabinet member whose success provokes a political conspiracy.

Fernando Nieto Lobato7 August 20243 min read Fiction

Issue 044

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (4)

A fictional AI designed to advise governments becomes a political force in its own right, in a story created with Llama 3.1 405B.

Fernando Nieto Lobato31 July 20242 min read Fiction

Issue 043

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (3)

A summer satire created with Claude Sonnet 3.5: an AI campaign assistant detects one problem too many in a presidential debate.

Fernando Nieto Lobato24 July 20242 min read Fiction

Issue 042

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045 (2)

In this summer story created with Gemini 1.5 Pro, a bored programmer disrupts the speeches of an impeccably rational digital ruler.

Fernando Nieto Lobato17 July 20242 min read Fiction

Issue 041

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

Stories of politics, government and AI in 2045

The summer fiction series begins with GPT-4o's story of Políticus-Prime, a humorous AI candidate facing a flamboyant human rival.

Fernando Nieto Lobato10 July 20243 min read Fiction

Issue 036

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Testing new AI models to compare manifestos and analyse data ahead of the European Parliament elections

Historical tests of Gemini and GPT-4o for manifesto comparison, turnout visualisation and interpreting the European Parliament's composition.

Fernando Nieto Lobato5 June 202416 min read Analysis

Issue 035

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Artificial intelligence in Mexico’s 2024 elections: challenges and opportunities

Ray Acosta's historical opinion piece on social media, AI and Mexico's 2024 elections, examining manipulation, political participation and civic education.

Ray Acosta29 May 20247 min read Opinion

Issue 030

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Continuing our experiment in creating and developing an AI-generated political party for the European Parliament elections

A historical test of generative AI for a fictional electoral campaign: objectives, messages, talking points, poster designs and songs.

Fernando Nieto Lobato24 April 202414 min read Analysis

Issue 029

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

“Elena Vidal”: an AI-generated political profile for the European Parliament elections

A historical experiment creating a fictional European Parliament candidate with GPT-4 and Midjourney, including her profile, SWOT analysis, speech and interview.

Fernando Nieto Lobato17 April 202414 min read Analysis

Issue 028

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

estrategIA’s “electoral” experiment: generative artificial intelligence as the creator and promoter of a new political party

A historical experiment using generative AI to create the identity, policies, logo and website of a fictional pro-European, Stoic political party.

Fernando Nieto Lobato10 April 202413 min read Analysis

Issue 024

AI in Practice

Claude 3 versus GPT-4: comparing Anthropic’s new AI with the current leader on political prompts

A historical comparison of Claude 3 Opus and GPT-4 using two political and public-policy prompts, with all four responses preserved in full.

Fernando Nieto Lobato13 March 202415 min read Practical experiment

Issue 023

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

A proof of concept: using generative image AI (Midjourney) to enhance a candidate’s image

A March 2024 educational proof of concept using Midjourney images of Emmanuel Macron to examine political narratives, synthetic imagery and deepfake risks.

Fernando Nieto Lobato6 March 20245 min read Practical experiment

Issue 021

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Sora: a leap forward in realistic AI video that calls for a coordinated social response

Sora’s February 2024 announcement, its potential for political communication and the need for a coordinated response to realistic synthetic video.

Fernando Nieto Lobato21 February 20244 min read Analysis

Issue 020

AI in Practice

Gemini Ultra under scrutiny: exploring the capabilities and problems of Google’s latest AI

A historical first assessment of Gemini Ultra in February 2024, including its political-content restrictions, benchmark claims and image-generation examples.

Fernando Nieto Lobato14 February 20247 min read Analysis

Issue 019

Learning & Human Capability

AI: our key ally in first-class training

Santiago Comadira describes ALEPH’s use of AI to build an immersive electoral training exercise and shares five lessons for educators.

Santiago Comadira7 February 20243 min read Analysis

Issue 016

AI in Practice

Five interesting categories of AI proto-agents already in OpenAI’s new GPT Store

A historical exploration of five types of GPT assistants for politics and government at the launch of OpenAI’s GPT Store.

Fernando Nieto Lobato17 January 20245 min read Practical experiment

Issue 015

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

Artificial intelligence in the 2024 US elections: opportunities, risks and solutions

An examination of the opportunities, disinformation risks and safeguards surrounding AI in the 2024 US elections.

Fernando Nieto Lobato10 January 20245 min read Analysis

Issue 014

Futures, Safety & Human Agency

The rise of AI: key predictions for 2024

Five AI trends predicted at the start of 2024, plus the expected impact of AI on the US elections and public perceptions.

Fernando Nieto Lobato3 January 20245 min read Analysis

Issue 003

AI in Practice

AI's new frontier: multimodality and its applications in politics — GPT-4 V(ision)

Three historical GPT-4 Vision experiments from October 2023: election posters, a campaign website and the appearance of a fictional candidate.

Fernando Nieto Lobato18 October 202310 min read Practical experiment

Issue 001

Democracy, Elections & Public Trust

The industrialisation of disinformation: a new era on the horizon

Generative AI could make convincing political disinformation cheap and widely available, with particular risks for local democracy.

Fernando Nieto Lobato4 October 20235 min read Analysis