Digital Democracy: How AI Tools Could Empower British Voters
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform nearly every aspect of society. One area that could greatly benefit from AI is public engagement in policy development and legislation. By leveraging AI tools and techniques, the state could revolutionize its approach to participatory democracy, fostering inclusivity, efficiency, and equality. Given the recent news that the UK Electoral Commission was hacked by hostile actors (probably Russia or China) during key public votes in 2014 and 2016, it’s imperative we find ways to harness technology to democracy.
AI has gained some remarkable abilities to manipulate and generate language, whether with words, sounds or images. AI has thereby hacked the operating system of our civilisation — Yuval Noah Harari
In this blog, I’ll explore some of the ways AI could be employed to improve citizens’ involvement with civic decision-making and shape government policy and legislation.
Data-driven Insights for Informed Decision-making: AI can process and analyze vast amounts of data, providing policymakers with valuable insights into public opinions, concerns, and preferences. By employing sentiment analysis and natural language processing techniques, AI systems can mine and analyze data from various sources such as social media, surveys, and public forums. These insights can inform policymakers’ decisions, ensuring that policies and legislation are grounded in a deep understanding of public sentiment. AI also promises to help sort and synthesize different kinds of data sets, ensuring no one system or set of metrics dominates — although such sophisticated analysis is still some way off.
Intelligent Chatbots for Interactive Dialogue: AI-powered chatbots are being deployed to engage with the public, answering questions, providing information, and facilitating interactive dialogue. These chatbots can be integrated into government websites, social media platforms, and mobile applications, offering instant and personalized responses to inquiries. NHS 111 online, for example, employs chatbots to manage service users’ pathways to care.
Chatbots could possibly be created to assist citizens in navigating complex policies and legislation, making information more accessible and increasing public understanding and engagement. Chat-gpt is already being used, for example, to help citizens summarise or parse lengthy policy reports or tricky bits of legislation. However, as we have seen, language model (LLM) AI is prone to making confident-sounding factual errors.
Collaborative Policy Simulations: AI-driven simulations and modeling can enable the public to actively participate in policy development processes. By providing citizens with user-friendly interfaces and data-driven scenarios, simulations can model the potential impact of policy choices. This empowers individuals to make informed decisions and understand the consequences of different policy options. Furthermore, public engagement becomes a participatory and educational experience, fostering a sense of ownership in the policy development process. Areas that could really benefit from public involvement with simulated scenarios include urban planning, whereby new infrastructure can be modeled and its impact on communities and the environment be considered; and environmental policy itself: AI could be used to model the different short, mid, and long-term impacts of decisions and targets on things like carbon emissions, green energy supply, and sustainable housing.
Politicians, experts, and citizens could then work more closely in unsion to find equitable solutions
Predictive Analytics for Targeted Engagement: AI’s predictive capabilities can help identify specific demographic groups or communities that may be directly affected by proposed policies or legislation. This is especially useful when there may be unanticipated consequences of policies on the lives of specific sections of society. By leveraging demographic data and historical patterns, AI algorithms could anticipate where disadvantaged or minoritised community groups might be further disadvantaged. Policymakers could then ensure representation and inclusivity, and address the specific concerns and needs of the most vulnerable. Those most at risk from issues like the cost-of-living or environmental crises might be more effectively targeted. Politicians, experts, and citizens could then work more closely in unison to find equitable solutions.
Online Deliberation and Crowdsourcing Platforms: AI-powered online platforms could facilitate deliberative processes and crowdsourcing of ideas. These platforms would enable citizens to engage in informed discussions, share perspectives, and contribute ideas for policy development. AI algorithms can help identify common themes, evaluate the feasibility of proposals, and generate summaries or reports based on public input. In 2016, the UK government launched a public consultation on the proposed sugar tax. The consultation was conducted online and was open to individuals, organizations, and stakeholders and informed the shape of the final legislation. In the future, AI could be used to improve access to information and informed decision-making in such public consultations.
AI-powered online platforms could facilitate deliberative processes and crowdsourcing of ideas
Ethical Considerations and Algorithmic Transparency: As AI is increasingly used in public engagement processes, it’s crucial to ensure its ethical use and algorithmic transparency. The British government has been scrambling to keep up with AI roll-out, publishing its own AI Ethics Guidelines which address issues of privacy, data security, bias, and transparency of algorithms. Ensuring that AI systems are accountable, fair, and transparent helps build public trust in the technology. Many public figures have spoken openly about their concerns in these areas. In a piece for the Economist this April, the public intellectual Yuval Noah Harari warns, “AI has gained some remarkable abilities to manipulate and generate language, whether with words, sounds or images. AI has thereby hacked the operating system of our civilisation.”
It is imperative that AI is deployed ethically, with transparency and accountability.
By embracing AI technologies, British governments have the opportunity to revolutionize public engagement in policy development and legislation but they must do as a matter of urgency as hostile agents such as Russia and China will continue to use powerful AIs to undermine democratic, citizen-led decision-making.
It is imperative that AI is deployed ethically, with transparency and accountability. If we can harness its potential, we can foster inclusive and equitable policy development, and ultimately create a more vibrant, robust, and representative democracy.
About the author: Chris Rolls FRSA is a facilitator, consultant, and founder of Collective Sense, a consultancy that delivers training and resources in co-creation, participatory design, and inclusive public engagement.
