OpenAI, the prominent AI research institute behind ChatGPT, has recently launched a global initiative showcasing how artificial intelligence (AI) can be a powerful resource to facilitate and democratize the process of citizen assemblies. By utilizing AI in this context, we can, in some cases, overcome some of the major barriers to, and arguments against, citizen assemblies - cost, complexity, and the need for physical meetings and trained facilitators.
In May 2023, OpenAI launched a global competition to develop new rules for AI systems through a democratic process, stating the following motivation:
"AI will have significant, far-reaching economic and societal impacts. Technology shapes the lives of individuals, how we interact with one another, and how society as a whole evolves. We believe that decisions about how AI behaves should be shaped by diverse perspectives reflecting the public interest.
Laws encode values and norms to regulate behavior. Beyond a legal framework, AI, much like society, needs more intricate and adaptive guidelines for its conduct. For example: under what conditions should AI systems condemn or criticize public figures, given different opinions across groups regarding those figures? How should disputed views be represented in AI outputs? Should AI by default reflect the persona of a median individual in the world, the user’s country, the user’s demographic, or something entirely different? No single individual, company, or even country should dictate these decisions."
The competition encourages individuals, teams, and organizations to develop concepts for a "democratic process that can address questions about what rules AI systems should follow." OpenAI describes the democratic process as a mechanism where "a broad group of people exchange opinions, engage in deliberative discussions, and ultimately arrive at an outcome through a transparent decision-making process".
OpenAI mentions crowd-sourcing models like Wikipedia, Twitter Community Notes, MetaGov, pol.is, and others as inspirations to follow. OpenAI encourages the teams to be innovative and to build upon established methods while also proposing entirely new approaches.
The Application Advisory Committee consists of Colin Megill, Co-founder of pol.is, Hélène Landemore, Professor of Political Science at Yale, and Aviv Ovadya, Berkman Klein Center.
By using AI to facilitate deliberative discussions and decision-making processes, we can reduce resource requirements, make the process more accessible to a broader range of participants, and ensure that the results are transparent and accountable. It is also an exciting example of how AI can be used to promote deliberative processes, which are a central part of citizen assemblies.
OpenAI is also collaborating with the Collective Intelligence Project (CIP), which develops crowd-sourcing governance models for emerging technologies like generative AI. CIP has created what they call "Alignment Assemblies," collaborations to develop human-centered AI. These "Alignment Assemblies" can be seen as a form of digital citizen assemblies, where AI is used to facilitate the process and ensure that the results align with the interests and values of the public.
Such technology has the potential to offer a cost-effective and scalable solution for conducting citizen assemblies. By using AI to gather, analyze, and understand opinions from a large number of individuals, we can obtain a more complete and balanced picture of societal perspectives and needs. This can help inform policy decisions, improve products and services, and ultimately create more democratic and inclusive societies.
Learn more about the competition and OpenAI's initiative here.
Read more about The Collective Intelligence Project here.