AI is changing citizen participation: are we ready?

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Have you noticed a shift happening everywhere at once? A chatbot helps residents access public services and share their opinions in Bogotá. Over in Derry, an AI tool helps facilitators surface common ground in a community dialogue. AI now reads thousands of participant responses in a fraction of the time it would take a team of analysts. Different tools, same underlying question: what should AI actually be doing in democratic participation, what requires guardrails, and what should it be kept away from?

A new report from the OECD and the German Bertelsmann Stiftung, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Citizen Participation, takes that question seriously. Drawing on 50 use cases from 22 countries, it maps nine ways AI is being used in participation – as well as the risks, from exclusion and skewed outputs to the temptation to simulate public opinion rather than consult the public.

A global conversation on AI for citizen participation

Note: The webinar has concluded! Watch the recording below:

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Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 9 am ET / 3 pm CEST / 8 pm Bangkok for a webinar unpacking the findings alongside case studies from practitioners already putting these tools to work.

Featuring:

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What to expect

Giulia Cibrario will walk through the report's typology: the nine ways AI is being used across participation processes, from sense-making and translation to facilitation and simulation — along with what the research found about where these tools work and where they fall short.

Ireland Twiggs will share Co-operation Ireland's Voice Matters project in Derry/Londonderry, where AI-supported facilitation was used in community dialogue in a post-conflict context.

Patiphan Srichai will present DreamCon, WeVis Thailand's platform for gathering public input on constitutional reform, and make a case that runs against the grain. WeVis deliberately chose not to use AI to summarise discussions, on the grounds that summarisation privileges majority consensus and lets minority views disappear. Instead they use AI to help people navigate the full range of what was said.

After presentations, we’ll hold a moderated discussion and take questions from the audience. We will also use deliberAIde visualizations and summaries to demonstrate the potential of AI tools to support deliberation.

From findings to practice: a workshop on September 30

If you want to go further, from research findings to practice, we're also hosting an interactive workshop on Wednesday, September 30, 9:00 am ET / 3:00 pm CEST. 

In facilitated breakout groups led by practitioners working with these tools, participants will compare approaches, surface shared challenges, and leave with concrete ideas to use AI for citizen participation. DeliberAIde will support discussions in breakout rooms. Note that spots are limited.

Register for the workshop

This webinar and workshop are co-organized by People Powered, Bertelsmann Stiftung and the OECD.