Deliberative Approaches to Inclusive Governance

From world-leading experts in deliberative democracy, civic technology, and AI governance we introduce a seven-part essay series exploring how deliberative democratic processes like citizen’s assemblies and civic tech can strengthen AI governance.

Active

Since 2025

Montreal

Democracy has undergone profound changes over the past decade, shaped by rapid technological, social, and political transformations. Across the globe, citizens are demanding more meaningful and sustained engagement in governance—especially around emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), which increasingly shape the contours of public life. From world-leading experts in deliberative democracy, civic technology, and AI governance we introduce a seven-part essay series exploring how deliberative democratic processes like citizen’s assemblies and civic tech can strengthen AI governance. The essays follow from a workshop on “Democratic Legitimacy for AI: Deliberative Approaches to Inclusive Governance” held in Vancouver in March 2025, in partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. The series and workshop were generously supported by funding from the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Mila, and Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. Essay Authors: Liz Barry, Executive Director, Metagov Claudia Chwalisz, Founder and CEO, DemocracyNext Joseph Gubbels, Political Theory Fellow, Metagov Julian Lam, Project Manager, Democratic Legitimacy for AI Lawrence Lessig, Professor, Harvard Law School Peter MacLeod, Chair, Citizens’ Assemblies on Democratic Expression (CADE) Aaron Maniam, Fellow of Practice and Director, Digital Transformation Education, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Deb Roy, Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Co-Founder, Cortico Micah L. Sifry, Co-founder, Civic Tech Field Guide & Publisher, The Connector Alice Siu, Associate Director at Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab Sonja Solomun, Deputy Director, Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy Audrey Tang, Mozilla Foundation, Project Liberty Institute, and supported by funding from the Omidyar Network