The New York Times Debate at MSC | Is Democracy too Slow for the AI Race?

The New York Times debate at the Energy Pavilion Hub, hosted by BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt at Munich Security Conference 2026, examined whether democratic systems are structurally disadvantaged in the global AI race, where speed, scale and coordination appear decisive or whether democracies provided long-term strategic advantage grounded in resilience, innovation and public legitimacy. Powerful anecdotes and arguments, balanced with moments of humour, added depth and humanity to the fundamental debate related AI race and the future of our political systems. The audience ultimately declared the “Against” side the winner, but—as with all the debates—the true value lay not in the outcome, but in the process of balanced, nuanced, and respectful argumentation. Hosted by: Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, President, International, The New York Times Katrin Bennhold, Host of "The World" Newsletter, The New York Times For the motion: Parag Khanna, Founder and CEO, AlphaGeo Wendy Chang, Senior Analyst, Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) Andrew Perry, Director, Energy Transition and Environment, Faculty AI Against the motion: Arancha Gonzalez, Dean, Paris International School of Affairs (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, European Union and Cooperation) Dimitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator Claudia Plattner, President, German Federal Office for Information Security Jury: Dr. Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary General, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) Meredith Whittaker, President, Signal Foundation Thomas Rid, Professor of Strategic Studies and Founding Director, Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies, John Hopkins University SAIS