Democracy is under threat, there’s no doubt. So why am I optimistic about it? 

Because deliberative technology and artificial intelligence will enable new methods, new methods that will heal our divided societies and enable fully participatory citizen involvement.

The threat to democracy

Democracy is getting beaten up. The Economist’s 2024 Democracy Index designates a third of the world’s population as living under autocratic rule and the V-Dem Institute report one half of the world live in “electoral autocracies”, fake democracies, if you will.^{1, 2}

For many decades, it had been an improving trend but since the mid-2010s the curve has changed direction. In 2016, even America was downgraded to a “flawed democracy”, alongside India, Bangladesh and South Africa, and has remained there since. Events of 2025 mean we can reasonably expect it to be reclassified again this year, and not in a positive direction. 

Let’s face it, even at its best, democracy is limited. In the UK, for example, it means every four or five years we have a simple binary choice between two mostly uninspiring parties. That’s it, that’s the whole of our democratic input. No wonder many countries are looking for a new way.

The problem is the new way most are trying is making things worse. The gap between different factions in a country has become ever wider, it’s no longer simple disagreement, each group now sees the other as an existential threat. 

It’s scary. Civil war expert, Barbara Walter, says that for the first time in her research, America has registered on the watch list for a possible civil war.³

Democracy is no longer fit for purpose

The old way does need to change, it’s no longer fit for purpose. Even Winston Churchill admitted as much in 1947, saying it was the worst form of government apart from all the other forms that had been tried. So, we need to try a new way, but not the new way of Orban, Erdogan and Trump, we need a new, new way.

And the good news is that there is one that is already proving very successful. 

Enter deliberative democracy

In 2016, the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny created a citizens’ assembly to discuss the topic of foetal right to life.⁴ Abortion was illegal and it’s not hard to see that any attempt to change this would be political dynamite in such a country so the canny Kenny chose a clever way to address it. 

Over five weekends, one weekend a month, approximately 90 people, randomly selected to match the country’s demographic spread, met to discuss the topic. They listened to talks by experts from all sides and were facilitated along the way, all meetings broadcast live across the internet.

In the end, 64% of the assembly voted to recommend that termination of pregnancy without restriction should be lawful. It was put to a national referendum where 66% voted the same way.

Perhaps the most telling point, however, is that those people who voted against the recommendation, still supported it because they supported the process that produced it. Such an explosive issue, discussed respectfully, without flaming, blaming or civil war, and reaching an outcome that, ultimately, everyone supported.

A citizens’ assembly for everyone with AI 

All this sounds fantastic but what has it got to do with AI?

Well, there are some simple, practical issues with citizens’ assemblies. They are expensive, they take time and it is difficult getting sufficient people to commit to the time required, sufficient people that fully represent the country’s wider population.

Which is where AI steps in. There are now several AI-supported deliberative technology platforms, like Polis, Remesh and Google’s Habermas Machine (named after German philosopher, Jurgen Habermas, an early proponent of the concept), that can support these processes cheaply, in real-time and with thousands of people contributing to the conversation.

And whereas social media tends to produce inflammatory and polarised discussions, these platforms are optimised for agreement.

This is their great power, they help people produce nuanced outcomes that bridge the divide where, again, even those who disagree with the finding, still support it because they support the process.

Digital democracy

If Ireland is the poster-child for citizens’ assemblies, vTaiwan is the same for the digital version. It’s a division of the Taiwanese government set up to engage the public with difficult political decisions. 

For example, in 2015 attempts to change the law on online alcohol sales had ground to a halt after months of inability to get the different parties to agree on anything substantial. So, in March 2016, they used Polis to enable an online discussion.⁵ 450 citizens logged on, proposed solutions and voted on them. Within a few weeks, a set of recommendations had been agreed upon and communicated to the government and, by late April, they had been incorporated into a draft bill. And all conducted respectfully.

In another extreme example, Libya, rebuilding after their bloody civil war, tried to find agreement between the various warring factions on how to form a Government of National Unity.⁶ With so much blood spilt and bitterness still felt, there was not much hope within the country that the process would be successful. 

But they used the AI platform Remesh to support a conversation between 1000 people and the whole process was held live on television, with more than a third of the country’s population tuning in to watch. Against all expectations, they were able to reach an agreement and the government was formed.

A real democracy

As with everything digital, the capability of the platforms will only increase with time and they will soon support much larger populations engaging in the conversation. With the exponential nature of the technology, there is no reason why we can’t envisage a near future where everyone can vote on everything. A real democracy.

It’s happening now. The OECD currently lists over 700 such examples around the world at national and regional government level, Participedia lists 2300, and the number is growing each year.^{7, 8} It’s an idea whose time has come, spreading bottom up, and fueled by its success.

Why don’t you suggest it at your next local council meeting?

1. https://www.eiu.com/n/democracy-index-2024/
2. https://v-dem.net/documents/60/V-dem-dr__2025_lowres.pdf
3. Walter, B (2023) “How Civil Wars Start: And how to stop them” (Penguin) ISBN 9780241988398
4. https://citizensassembly.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FirstReport_EIGHTAMENDMENT.pdf
5. https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/21/240284/the-simple-but-ingenious-system-taiwan-uses-to-crowdsource-its-laws/ 
6. https://peacepolls.etinu.net/peacepolls/documents/009260.pdf 
7. OECD Deliberative Democracy Database (2023)
8. https://participedia.net/