And the antidote to polarization is... deliberative tech

Enhanced by AI which delineates areas of consensus and contention, deliberative tech brings gains to democracy and peacebuilding, says a new policy brief by Dr. Lisa Schirch

In this year where two thirds of earthlings vote, we’re bombarded with lists of risks that tech poses to democracy - from deep fakes to creating filter bubbles where few truths are shared.  But let’s pause on the demonisation of tech for a moment, for there’s a new tech protagonist on the block: deliberative technology.  In  "Defending Democracy with Deliberative Technology," Professor of the practice of Peacebuilding and Technology at the University of Notre Dame Dr. Lisa Schirch describes how deliberative tech is not merely a tool but a transformative wave, equipped to counter democratic backsliding by fostering inclusive, productive public discourse. And alongside the gains for democracy are huge wins for building trust and collaboration across divides.

Central to the allure of deliberative technologies is their unique capacity to catalyze collective intelligence—a fusion of diverse thoughts, experiences, and ideas from groups of people, aimed at tackling shared challenges.

Unlike the static feedback of traditional polls or surveys, these platforms enable dynamic, iterative exchanges where participants can articulate their perspectives, absorb a multitude of viewpoints, discover commonalities, and collaboratively refine solutions.

This process is significantly enriched by artificial intelligence (AI), which plays a pivotal role in distilling vast quantities of public input. AI’s capability to categorize themes, weigh the merits and demerits of policy proposals, conduct sentiment analysis, and delineate areas of consensus and contention transforms a cacophony of voices into a chorus of coherent, actionable insights.

All of these gains are also wins for peacebuilders, who are paddling upstream against the algorithms of social media which reward divisionism and us-versus-them thinking. Tech which enables both greater inclusion as well as an ease of visibility of what we share, not just what divides us, is exactly the accelerator that peacebuilders and bridge builders need at this time.

That these technologies can also be used to foster trust between citizens and their institutions further weakens the depletion of agency and vertical trust - both which can lead to an embrace of violence as justified.

Consider the pioneering applications of Pol.is in Taiwan and Remesh in peace processes in Libya and Yemen. These platforms exemplify how deliberative technology, underpinned by AI, doesn't just gather opinions but actively fosters understanding and consensus among diverse groups. By anonymizing interactions and focusing on the content of discussions rather than the identities of contributors, these technologies sidestep social biases and encourage honest, uninhibited participation. The use of AI to predict voting patterns on proposals or to map consensus across divisive issues exemplifies how technological and human intelligence can synergize to reveal the undercurrents of common ground that often go unnoticed in conventional discourse.

Deliberative technologies thus serve a dual purpose: they amplify the democratic principle of participatory governance and leverage AI to navigate the toxic polarization of modern policy-making. This synergy between collective human intelligence and computational power enables the development of more nuanced, inclusive, and ultimately effective solutions to the collective problems facing our societies today.

Among the suite of Schirch's recommendations, the call to foster robust civic engagement, build trust in public institutions, and depolarize policy debates stands out.

These actions open the possibility to shift civic norms and perceptions about the value of non-violent engagement on divisive issues.

By doing so, we enhance the efficacy of civic participation, ensure governance aligns with public will, and cultivate a more constructive public dialogue.

The integration of AI in these technologies does more than streamline processes; it illuminates the path to finding common ground. It proves that, even in our age of digital saturation and polarization, technology—when thoughtfully designed —can indeed bring us closer together rather than drive us apart. This narrative invites us to reconsider the role of technology in democracy, not as a source of division but as a bridge to trust, mutual understanding and collaboration.