The Algorithmic Citizen: How AI is Rewriting Rights, Representation and Responsibility

Abstract

With fast-paced digitization, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining the interaction between states and citizens. From predictive policing to biometric welfare systems, algorithmic technologies are no longer on the periphery but at the center of governance. This paper presents the idea of the algorithmic citizen—a subject whose civic status is not just mediated by laws and institutions but also by data profiles, predictive models, and unseen computational logics. Whereas AI holds out the promise of efficiency, neutrality, and scale, it tends to entrench inequality, ostracize the vulnerable, and erode democratic accountability. In moving governance away from rights-based standards to probabilistic judgment, access to welfare or justice comes to rely more on statistical inference than on deliberation. Conducted with reference to political theory, sociology, and digital ethics, this paper investigates three case studies: India's Aadhaar biometric identification system and its application in welfare access; the UK's algorithmic use in school allocation and policing; and facial recognition surveillance of democratic cities. These cases highlight that AI systems are far from being unproblematic ally administrative instruments but are active forces determining inclusion, eligibility, and citizenship itself. The article poses urgent questions: What does accountability look like when decisions are outsourced to algorithms? How can citizens assert agency over systems they cannot perceive or oppose? It calls for a shift in AI governance in the direction of democratic values—transparency, explain ability, consent, and participation. Institutional reforms like algorithmic audits, social impact assessments, and rights-based digital safeguards are necessary. Finally, the algorithmic citizen expresses the promise and danger of AI, pointing to the importance of ensuring that digital innovation reinforces rather than erodes democratic life.