After 18 months researching AI’s impact on democracy across the world, I’ve reached a perhaps counterintuitive conclusion: sophisticated technological solutions may matter less than what we as individuals do with information in their daily practices.

My Churchill Fellowship research consistently found that individual agency remains among the most powerful defences against algorithmic manipulation and disinformation campaigns. While institutions develop AI detection tools and platform policies, evidence suggests that conscious information practices by citizens create resilience that technological solutions alone cannot achieve.

But what might such practices involve? My upcoming Churchill report explores how citizens can develop daily habits of information verification—checking multiple sources, examining funding and motivations behind content creators, and actively seeking perspectives that challenge existing beliefs. We don’t need to become professional fact-checkers; but we do need to become more aware of our information consumption patterns.

The research identifies specific approaches we can all take: regularly auditing our social media feeds, diversifying our news sources, engaging with long-form content requiring sustained attention rather than quick emotional reactions, supporting quality journalism, and choosing to engage with a broader spectrum of content that doesn’t simply confirm our existing beliefs.

Yet individual action alone appears insufficient. The evidence from studying interventions across different democratic contexts suggests that coordinated approaches addressing multiple aspects of the disinformation lifecycle create more substantial resilience than isolated efforts.

This raises questions about collective responsibility across all sectors and electoral participants: How might electoral commissions establish more effective engagement strategies? What role should federal government play in comprehensive digital literacy education? How can political parties demonstrate ethical AI leadership? What responsibility do media organisations bear for substantive policy coverage? What can individual citizens contribute through active information verification?

My Churchill report addresses these questions with evidence-based analysis for every participant in Australian democracy. Because protecting democratic discourse in the AI age appears less about someone else’s responsibility than everyone’s opportunity to strengthen foundations of informed democratic participation.

What role will you choose to play?