Politicians and administrations are increasingly inviting citizens to participate in political decision-making processes. Digital participation platforms are regularly used for this (digital public participation). The resulting discussions and data can overwhelm both participants and organisers. A lack of clarity and rationality in the debates as well as the scalability and aggregation of public input are considered to be neuralgic weaknesses of digital public participation. The working group consisting of scientists and participation practitioners addresses these problems in order to explore the question of how AI-based tools can support digital public participation Can AI potentially make digital participation processes more inclusive, clearer and more objective? At what points in the process can AI be helpful? Where is it perhaps even harmful? What risks are associated with it and can AI even be communicated in the context of democratic policy-making (to politicians, but also to the public in question)? What practical experience exists with AI applications and how can these be scientifically evaluated? Finally, it is also important to determine the actual needs in participation practice, because not everything that is (AI) technically possible must also be useful in practice.
Conversely, not everything that is desirable can be realised with the AI tools currently available. The dialogue between science and practice, which the working group aims to stimulate, is invaluable, especially for application-oriented research. The overarching aim of the four-day workshop is to explore the potential of AI-based tools for digital public participation processes and identify practical areas of application. In addition, opportunities for cooperation between science and practice will be explored. On the one hand, the participants are scientists with proven and interdisciplinary expertise in the field of online political communication and participation (computer science, communication science, social sciences, computational social science). The invited practitioners are service providers in the participation sector who have years of experience and expertise in the field of (digital) public participation.