According to the founding fathers of the United States, it is essential for elected officials to be influenced by the views of the electorate. James Madison stated that the reason, alone, of the public should regulate the government.
However, the methods for government officials to hear from the people are limited. Elected officials receive emails, letters, phone calls, and input at town halls, while some agencies occasionally ask for public comments on complex regulations. There are very low levels of confidence among Americans that they can influence the policymaking process. This undermines trust in the democratic process.
In recent years, Artificial Intelligence has made this situation worse, as it can generate vast numbers of communications to policymakers masquerading as citizen input.
For example, when the Federal Communications Commission took public comments on net neutrality, it was found that nearly 18 of the 22 million comments were fabricated or generated by AI, with a large portion being from the broadband industry. Only 98.5% of genuine inputs favored retaining net neutrality.
A recent study conducted by researchers for the Brookings Institution sent emails to legislative offices, some written by citizens, others generated by AI. The study found that legislative offices could not discern which emails were fake.
The collapse of this flawed system may require a major upgrade, rather than a superficial repair.
In this country and other democracies, universities, nonprofit organizations, and governments have been using methods for consulting citizens on important policy issues. These efforts recruit representative samples that mirror the public as a whole, making it possible to discern consensus, and they verify that those who engage are real citizens using modern technologies.
These methods go beyond polls and involve online surveys in which verified citizens evaluate arguments for and against a policy proposal the government is debating.
Voice of the People also conducts these online surveys in congressional districts and brings together constituents who took the survey and representatives to have informed discussions on the issues. Other programs take smaller groups of citizens through more in-depth processes that can last several days.
A vast majority of voters approve of public consultation and say it would improve their confidence in government. When citizens engage in these processes, they are far more likely to find bipartisan common ground than Congress. Voice of the People has identified over 200 points of bipartisan agreement in a wide range of policy areas, on which Congress has been gridlocked.
While privately funded efforts are making a meaningful contribution, a government-funded institute to consistently consult the people should be created if policymakers truly want to listen.
We stand at a crossroads, as AI has opened up new possibilities for distorting the democratic process, while democratic, technological innovations have opened up the possibility of not only verifying the voices of representative samples of citizens but also giving them tools to deliver meaningful input to their elected representatives.
Which use becomes the norm will set the future of democracy itself. — Tribune News Service
Steven Kull is director of the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, and the founder and president of Voice of the People. JP Thomas is vice president of Voice of the People and director of Voice of the People Action.
