About the event
Like social media before them, new AI tools promise to change the game when it comes to civic engagement. These technologies offer bold new possibilities for investigative journalists, anticorruption advocates, and others working with limited resources to advance democratic norms.
Yet the transformation wrought by AI advances is far from guaranteed to work in democracy’s favor. To better the odds for prodemocratic actors in a fluid technological environment, systematic thinking about how to make AI work for democracy is needed.
The essays in this report outline possible paths toward a prodemocratic vision for AI. An overview essay by Beth Kerley based on insights from the Forum’s expert workshops reflects on the critical questions that confront organizations seeking to deploy AI tools. Fernanda Campagnucci, spotlighting the work of Open Knowledge Brasil, explores how AI advances are creating new opportunities for citizens to scrutinize public information. Finally, Demos’s Carl Miller sheds light on how AI technologies that enable new forms of civic deliberation might change the way we think about democratic participation itself.
Please join authors Fernanda Campagnucci (University of Münster) and Carl Miller (Demos) to discuss this new report. Christopher Walker (National Endowment for Democracy) will provide opening remarks and Beth Kerley (International Forum) will moderate the discussion.
about the speakers
Fernanda Campagnucci is a data governance expert and former executive director of Open Knowledge Brazil (2019–2024). Currently, she serves on the organization’s board and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Münster, Germany, where she coordinates the Scope Project, focused on state capacity in smart cities and online participation. With six years of experience as a public manager at São Paulo City Hall, Fernanda played a pivotal role in developing municipal policies on transparency, open data, and integrity within the Municipal Comptroller’s Office.
Carl Miller founded the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at Demos in 2011 and CASM Technology in 2014, and has spent the last decade researching disinformation, social media intelligence (SOCMINT), extremism, online electoral interference, radicalization, digital politics, conspiracy theories, cyber-crime, and Internet governance. He is the author of The Death of the Gods: The New Global Power Grab (Penguin Random House), and the presenter of “Power Trip: The Age of AI” (Intelligence Squared).
Christopher Walker is the vice president for studies and analysis at the National Endowment for Democracy. He oversees the multidimensional department that is responsible for NED’s analytical and thought leadership efforts, which pursues its goals through several interrelated initiatives: International Forum for Democratic Studies; the Journal of Democracy; the Reagan-Fascell fellowship program for international democracy activists; and the Center for International Media Assistance. Prior to joining the NED, Walker was vice president for strategy and analysis at Freedom House.
Beth Kerley is a senior program officer managing the International Forum for Democratic Studies’ emerging technologies portfolio, which covers the challenges and opportunities for democracy as technological advances supply new tools of politics and governance. She was previously associate editor of the Journal of Democracy and holds a PhD in History from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
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