Rebooting Democracy in the Age of AI

In Part II, we examine the project’s core claim that AI agents could represent citizens in democratic deliberation. We argue that representation requires more than predicting preferences, that democratic participation is essential to civic learning and self-government, and that increasingly capable AI agents risk shifting authority away from citizens and toward algorithms. Democracy depends on people governing together, not on delegating judgment to machines.

A new AI for Impact-engineered public engagement coach is helping public servants turn what they learned about engagement into practical action. Built by The GovLab, the tool guides practitioners through real planning decisions, asks targeted questions about their specific project, and draws on engagement frameworks, case studies, and practitioner expertise to help them design more effective public participation processes.

Democracy needs a moonshot — and Beth Noveck's new book offers the blueprint. Launching next week from Yale University Press, Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy makes the case that AI can strengthen democratic institutions when designed for public purpose, governed responsibly, and built to help governments listen, decide, and act more effectively. This special edition gathers the pre-launch conversation: Brookings TechTank with Darrell West, the Tavis Smiley Show, and Rick Flynn Presents, with feature interviews in Route Fifty and The Herald — alongside her new Reboot Democracy essay with José L. Martí, which critiques Habermolt, an experimental project that uses AI agents to deliberate and vote. Elana Banin sits down with Anya Kamenetz to ask why families have been largely absent from AI policy debates, and the Barcelona Public-Interest AI Accelerator team reflects on what it takes to train the next generation of AI-and-democracy leaders.