We will be sharing outputs from our design lab on options for a global citizens assembly on AI at TechSalon New York, ahead of the Civil Society Days of the UN Summit of the Future.
Read the full report here
Connected by Data at TechSalon New York - Options for a Global Citizens Assembly on AI
Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the central global governance issues of our time. It presents significant opportunities, but also great challenges. Cutting-edge AI development is concentrated in a small number of countries, but its impacts are global.
When AI is deployed with effects as diverse as reworking supply chains and labor markets, changing agricultural practices, and reshaping media landscapes, then even those who do not directly use AI systems are affected by them. It follows then, that AI should be governed “by and for all”.
How can global voices, concerns and ideas be brought meaningfully into a complex, contested and often technical landscape of AI governance?
Global citizen deliberation offers one important answer.
In recent decades, a wave of democratic innovation has seen citizen assemblies and distributed dialogues deployed in local, national and transnational contexts to address complex topics, from climate change and genomics, to social policy.
In a citizens assembly, a representative group of delegates are selected, offered balanced expert testimony, and given facilitated space to deliberate together on substantive questions. Complementary approaches take deliberation to the local level: fostering community level deliberations to shape public debate and practical decisions.
This Tech Salon explored the potential of, and practical steps towards, inclusive global citizen deliberation on AI. Guiding the discussion were contributions from:
- Tim Davies, Director of Research and Practice at Connected by Data,
- Helene Landemore, Professor of Political Science, Yale University & Fellow of Ethics in AI Institute, University of Oxford,
- Richard Wilson, ISWE Foundation / Coalition for a Global Citizens Assembly
- Kiito Shilongo, Tech Policy Researcher
- Lina Srivastava, Founder, Center for Transformational Change
You can find a write up of the event on the MerlTech blog.