Setting: AI4GOV Master, Project Work 3

Lead by: Ilaria Mariani (Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano; ORBIS coordination team) and Oscar Corcho (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), with Riccardo Ventura (Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano)

Date: 21 March 2025
Guest lecturer: Lucas Anastasiou, Post Doc Researcher, Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University; ORBIS project

Guest: Lucas Anastasiou  Lucas Anastasiou is a specialist in AI-driven solutions for active listening and civic participation. His expertise focuses on  integrating AI technologies into digital governance frameworks, with a particular emphasis on deliberative democracy.  As a key figure in the ORBIS project, he contributes to the development and application of AI-enhanced tools for citizen engagement. His work ensures that AI solutions are designed to facilitate transparent, data-driven decision-making while maintaining ethical standards.

Training event 

As part of Project Work 3 (PW3) of the AI4GOV Master Program at Politecnico di Milano, a one hour and a half training event was held featuring Lucas Anastasiou. The session started explaining the ORBIS socio-technical solution and its AI tools aimed at supporting citizen participation in deliberation, to then dive deep into a training event with a live demonstration.

The live demonstration focused on showing the ORBIS Toolkit, with a spotlight on BCause, an AI-powered deliberation platform designed to foster inclusive digital dialogues, and Democratic Reflection.

Through an interactive format, the training allowed a cohort of almost30 students to engage directly with how AI tools can support deliberative democracy, from summarising, to clustering and extracting arguments. The session ultimately provided a solid setting for bridging theoretical concepts with practical implementation, offering tangible insight into how AI can effectively be implemented to support and possibly scale civic engagement.

Key Takeaways 

• AI tools like BCause can support large-scale civic participation by facilitating structured, inclusive, and analyzable deliberations.
• Real-time demonstrations of platforms help demystify AI’s role in public service and strengthen user trust. 

Concluding thoughts 💡

The session provided an inspiring perspective on the intersection of AI and public participation, demonstrating the relevance of engaging citizens and stakeholders along the design process for informing the development of AI-enhanced tools, these initiatives are paving the way for a more desirable, inclusive, transparent, and data-driven deliberation and democracy.

Challenge Ensuring accessibility and usability of AI-powered platforms remains critical to widespread adoption in civic contexts, where different digital literacy coexists.

Opportunity Demonstrating AI tools in action fosters understanding of both opportunities and challenges behind digitally enhanced deliberation, and benefits for more informed participation.

Stay tuned for further updates from Project Work 3 as we continue exploring and co-designing AI-enhanced solutions for future public governance!