AI in Public Deliberation: Technological Frontiers for Democracy Transition

Public deliberation plays a crucial role across various domains, from civic engagement to high-level political strategies and deliberative democracy practices. Deliberation refers to the exchange of ideas, wherein groups evaluate arguments to achieve mutual understanding, informed decisions and collaborative action. Examples of public deliberation for democracy range from minipublics and participatory budgeting to citizen assemblies and beyond. Recently, the adoption of deliberative processes has demonstrated significant improvements in political and everyday decision-making, promoted by the evolving role of technology. Current experimentations see deliberation increasingly enhanced by advanced technological innovation, particularly through the use of AI, which aims at supporting and transforming both traditional and digital democratic environments, thereby opening up the need for critical analysis of their effectiveness and impact on democratic engagement and the overall transition toward a more democratic society. Nevertheless, the development and application of AI in public deliberation processes introduces both potential and challenges, revealing the necessity to develop a critical position on the role of AI in supporting democracy transition.

This article collection aims to delve further into the intersection of deliberation and technology, addressing the frontier of emergent technologies in bolstering deliberative processes. Central to this are the goals of developing robust methods for data collection and curation specific to deliberation, alongside the formulation of empirical metrics for technology assessment in these contexts. Addressing these aims will enable a deeper understanding and enhancement of technology’s role in democratic dialogues and decision-making frameworks.

Submissions should focus on critical perspectives on innovative methods for AI integration in deliberative settings, including but not limited to, the development of new models for data curation related to deliberative decision-making processes, the application of AI in facilitating inclusive and informed discussions, as well as their use for simulating and predicting the dynamics of public deliberation, and the creation of empirical metrics to assess the impact of technology on the quality and outcomes of deliberation. We also encourage submissions that address the ethical implications and challenges of integrating AI and technological advancements in public decision-making processes—including discussions on privacy, bias, transparency, and the accountability of AI systems used in deliberative democracies.

To gather further insights within the bounds of technology's reach in deliberative democracy, we welcome research papers addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Experimentation on and for AI-enabled deliberative platforms
- Hybrid human-machine deliberation: AI as discussion agent and moderator
- Technological advances for public decision-making
- Critical views on AI and democracy
- AI and Power: Exploring the role of AI in fostering vs hampering democratic deliberation
Integration of language systems into deliberative processes
- Foundational changes, challenges, and implications in the transition from in-person to digital deliberation
- Neurosymbolic methods for handling natural argumentation in deliberative settings
- Case studies of AI and advanced technology applied in real-world deliberative settings
- Data curation in collective decision-making
- Data governance in deliberative democracy
- Data-driven approaches for analyzing and enhancing deliberation
- Explainable AI applications in democratic contexts
- Benchmarking and evaluation methods for deliberative technologies, and impact of AI systems in deliberative environments
- Ethical AI use in public deliberation and debates
- Algorithmic transparency and biases in deliberative processes