Memetic Capture: A Pluralistic Policy Framework for Governing AI-Driven Cultural Disempowerment

Subramanyam Sahoo

Keywords: pluralistic alignment, AI governance, cultural disempowerment, memetic capture, cultural pluralism, gradual disempowerment

TL;DR: This paper proposes “memetic capture” as a framework for AI-driven cultural disempowerment and introduces the Cultural Pluralistic Governance Framework (CPGF) as a four-tier policy response.

Abstract:

Culture is the most insidious vector of gradual human disempowerment by AI: unlike economic or political displacement, cultural displacement attacks the very preferences and values through which humans recognise and resist disempowerment itself.
We argue that existing AI governance frameworks suffer from a critical blind spot by treating cultural impact as secondary to economic and safety concerns.
This paper develops \emph{memetic capture} as a unifying concept for AI-driven cultural disempowerment, and proposes the \textbf{Cultural Pluralistic Governance Framework (CPGF)}, a four-tier policy architecture combining quantitative cultural influence metrics, democratic value assemblies, pluralistic deployment standards, and transnational coordination mechanisms.
We argue that pluralism is not merely an ethical requirement for such governance but a structural necessity: monocultural AI governance accelerates the very disempowerment it claims to prevent.
We identify concrete policy levers, discuss implementation tensions, and outline a research agenda at the intersection of pluralistic alignment and cultural AI governance.

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Submission Number: 97