Utopian governance using generative AI
Electrohabermas, digital deliberation
2025-10-27 — 2025-10-27
Wherein an account is given of generative AI employed as a Habermas Machine to mediate local deliberations, through statements described as clear, logical and informative, aiding consensus on Brexit, immigration and welfare.
The complement to AI disempowerment of humans is Utopian governance enabled by generative AI. What’s the best, kindest, wisest collective behaviour we could achieve with generative AI assisting with governance? With discussion?
Not the same as wondering how we might democratize AI although that is also interesting.
1 AI for discussion and deliberation
To act collectively, groups must reach agreement; however, this can be challenging when discussants present very different but valid opinions. Tessler et al. (2024). investigated whether artificial intelligence (AI) can help groups reach a consensus during democratic debate (see Nyhan and Titiunik (2024) ). The authors trained a large language model called the Habermas Machine to serve as an AI mediator that helped small UK groups find common ground while discussing divisive political issues such as Brexit, immigration, the minimum wage, climate change, and universal childcare. Compared with human mediators, AI mediators produced more palatable statements that generated wide agreement and left groups less divided. The AI’s statements were more clear, logical, and informative without alienating minority perspectives. This work carries policy implications for AI’s potential to unify deeply divided groups. —Ekeoma Uzogara
2 Incoming
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A global network and crowdsourcing platform for researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in public participation and democratic innovations
Theory, methods, case studies
Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy
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Aviv’s primary focus is on ensuring that the governance of AI can keep up with the rate of AI advances, building on lessons from applied deliberative democracy to enable effective transnational governance and alignment. This involves framing (e.g., “Platform Democracy”), theory (e.g., “Generative CI”), and applied work: accelerating efforts to build out and pilot the organizational and technical infrastructure for deliberative governance (formally or informally advising efforts at Meta, Twitter, and OpenAI).
Reimagining Democracy for AI (in the “Journal of Democracy”)
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A global network and crowdsourcing platform for researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in public participation and democratic innovations
Theory, methods, case studies
Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy
-
The claim: government is no more than an information-processing machine.