Related papers: Supporting Online Discussions: Integrating AI Into…
Political online participation in the form of discussing political issues and exchanging opinions among citizens is gaining importance with more and more formats being held digitally. To come to a decision, a thorough discussion and…
A rapidly increasing amount of human conversation occurs online. But divisiveness and conflict can fester in text-based interactions on social media platforms, in messaging apps, and on other digital forums. Such toxicity increases…
Digital deliberation has expanded democratic participation, yet challenges remain. This includes processing information at scale, moderating discussions, fact-checking, or attracting people to participate. Recent advances in artificial…
Deliberative democracy arguably leads to better collective decisions, but is fundamentally constrained by human attention and bandwidth. While recent AI-mediated deliberations scale participation by synthesizing inputs from many humans,…
Public deliberation, as in open discussion of issues of public concern, often suffers from scattered and shallow discourse, poor sensemaking, and a disconnect from actionable policy outcomes. This paper introduces BCause, a discussion…
This chapter explores the influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on digital democracy, focusing on four main areas: citizenship, participation, representation, and the public sphere. It traces the evolution from electronic to virtual and…
The strength of democracy lies in the free and equal exchange of diverse viewpoints. Living up to this ideal at scale faces inherent tensions: broad participation, meaningful deliberation, and political equality often trade off with one…
AI companion chatbots are increasingly used for emotional support, with prior work in the domain predominantly documenting their mixed psychosocial impacts, including both increased emotional expression and heightened loneliness. However,…
Modern democracies face a critical issue of declining citizen participation in decision-making. Online discussion forums are an important avenue for enhancing citizen participation. This thesis proposal 1) identifies the challenges involved…
Argumentative dialogues across political divides can reduce polarization, yet opportunities for citizens to engage with opposing views in accessible and structured ways remain limited. AI dialogue partners offer a scalable framework for…
This article unpacks the design choices behind longstanding and newly proposed computational frameworks aimed at finding common grounds across collective preferences and examines their potential future impacts, both technically and…
This paper investigates how collaborative AI systems can enhance user agency in identifying and evaluating misinformation on social media platforms. Traditional methods, such as personal judgment or basic fact-checking, often fall short…
Online spaces involve diverse communities engaging in various forms of collaboration, which naturally give rise to discussions, some of which inevitably escalate into conflict or disputes. To address such situations, AI has primarily been…
Community engagement processes form a critical foundation of democratic governance, yet frequently struggle with resource constraints, sensemaking challenges, and barriers to inclusive participation. These processes rely on constructive…
The widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies in the public and private sectors has resulted in them significantly impacting the lives of people in new and unexpected ways. In this context, it becomes important to…
AI is increasingly used to scale collective decision-making, but far less attention has been paid to how such systems can support procedural legitimacy, particularly the conditions shaping losers' consent: whether participants who do not…
AI assistants are increasingly integrated into older adults' daily lives, offering new opportunities for social support and accessibility while raising important questions about privacy, autonomy, and trust. As these systems become embedded…
Research exploring how to support decision-making has often used machine learning to automate or assist human decisions. We take an alternative approach for improving decision-making, using machine learning to help stakeholders surface ways…
A wide range of participation is essential for democracy, as it helps prevent the dominance of extreme views, erosion of legitimacy, and political polarization. However, engagement in online political discussions often features a limited…
Video conferencing meetings are more effective when they are inclusive, but inclusion often hinges on meeting leaders' and/or co-facilitators' practices. AI systems can be designed to improve meeting inclusion at scale by moderating…