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Human/AI Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy: A Human-Centred Design Approach

Anna De Liddo, Lucas Anastasiou, Simon Buckingham Shum

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy (CI4DD). We propose that the use of computational tools, specifically artificial intelligence to advance deliberative democracy, is an instantiation of a broader class of human-computer system designed to augment collective intelligence. Further, we argue for a fundamentally human-centred design approach to orchestrate how stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to shaping the artifacts and processes needed to create trustworthy DD processes. We first contextualise the key concepts of CI and the role of AI within it. We then detail our co-design methodology for identifying key challenges, refining user scenarios, and deriving technical implications. Two exemplar cases illustrate how user requirements from civic organisations were implemented with AI support and piloted in authentic contexts.

Human/AI Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy: A Human-Centred Design Approach

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy (CI4DD). We propose that the use of computational tools, specifically artificial intelligence to advance deliberative democracy, is an instantiation of a broader class of human-computer system designed to augment collective intelligence. Further, we argue for a fundamentally human-centred design approach to orchestrate how stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to shaping the artifacts and processes needed to create trustworthy DD processes. We first contextualise the key concepts of CI and the role of AI within it. We then detail our co-design methodology for identifying key challenges, refining user scenarios, and deriving technical implications. Two exemplar cases illustrate how user requirements from civic organisations were implemented with AI support and piloted in authentic contexts.
Paper Structure (31 sections, 12 figures, 1 table)

This paper contains 31 sections, 12 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. CI, AI and DD
  3. A Comparative Analysis of Deliberative Technology Platforms
  4. A CI4DD co-design process
  5. Phase I: Eliciting Community Needs and Aspirations
  6. Results: Key points of struggle (PoS)
  7. Phase II: User Scenario Co-Creation
  8. Phase III: Use Case Scenarios Validation
  9. Higher-Level System Requirements
  10. Hybrid Deliberation via BCause: Bridging Structured Asynchronous Discussion with Unstructured Synchronous Conversations
  11. BCause: Platform Description
  12. AI-augmented transcript import
  13. Policy Recommendations Distillation
  14. Advanced clustering and vizualisations
  15. Transcript Argument Markup and Argument network creation
  16. ...and 16 more sections

Figures (12)

  • Figure 1: Collective Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy Research (CI4DD)
  • Figure 2: The three-phase co-design methodology: (Community Challenges, Scenarios Co-creation, and Validation) showing key stakeholders (Who), Objectives, and Outputs for each phase in the development of AI-augmented deliberative democracy tools.
  • Figure 3: "Engaging teenagers" DD user scenario co-created by civic organisations. The scenario follows a structured narrative format: (top panel) begins with Persona description and Context setting, establishing the stakeholder and situation; (middle panel) progresses through Challenge identification and Objective definition, clarifying what needs to be achieved; (bottom panel) details the Actions taken and Outcomes realized, showing how the deliberative technology enables the solution. Coloured annotations on the right link specific narrative elements to system requirements (e.g., UIE.2, DAV.1) detailed in the Appendix, creating traceability between user needs and technical specifications.
  • Figure 4: Snapshot of BCause Discussion Interface: The focal Question is at the top, and the left panel generates a succinct summary of the most contested and opposed positions. These are listed in the central panel, each with related Arguments organised into Cons (left) and Pros (right). The overview tree on the right supports orientation and navigation.
  • Figure 5: The BCause policy clusters dashboard, illustrating the main clusters from the 'Sustainable Food Systems Workshop'. The interface organizes participants into distinct 'Key Positions' with each one supported by 'Supporting Claims' grounded in a 'Originating Transcript Context'
  • ...and 7 more figures