This is the third in a series of four posts written with the head of the Brazilian Senate's e-Citizenship Office about how the Brazilian Senate is—and hopes to expand—using artificial intelligence to enable greater citizen engagement in lawmaking. The previous post described the Interactive Event – how the Senate is using technology to involve residents in legislative hearings. This post discusses the Senate’s Legislative Workshop program, and how AI could enable more widespread and impactful outreach to youth.
Part 2: The Interactive Event: Using AI to Improve Citizen Engagement in Legislative Hearings
Part 3: Legislative Workshops: Using AI to Strengthen Youth Engagement
Part 4: Brazil’s Online Consultation System is Reimagining Democracy for the Digital Age
To train the next generation of citizens, the Brazilian Senate has developed a curriculum for elementary, secondary, and higher education that enables schools and universities to teach young people how to develop legislative ideas under teacher guidance. The e-Citizenship team conducts regular outreach to university leadership to promote youth involvement and foster civic engagement among Brazilian young people.
This investment in civic education has yielded results: 10% of submissions to the legislative ideas site now come from educational institutions, with students having developed two thousand different legislative proposals. In 2023 alone, more than 1,500 teachers registered to conduct Legislative Workshops in a hundred cities across every state in the country.
Students learn about governance while digging deeply into national problems to develop legislative solutions, which they discuss in the classroom. In universities, this exercise is often integrated into political science or public administration courses, where students learn about the branches of government, institutional jurisdiction, and the lawmaking process before developing ideas to improve legislation.
The program has been inclusive, with workshops conducted in schools for those with intellectual disabilities. One compelling example came from Marcelo Siqueira from the Federal District, who proposed introducing hanging vegetable gardens to promote healthy eating in centers that educate those with disabilities. While the proposal received few up-votes, Senator Paulo Paim of Rio Grande do Sul found merit in the idea and introduced it as legislation. As Senator Paim noted, "Participation in this type of activity has widely recognized benefits in terms of mental health, strengthening community ties and the comprehensive development of children and young people, in addition to contributing to the sense of belonging of the elderly and people with disabilities."
Challenges and Limitations
Despite its success in engaging young people in the legislative process, the Legislative Workshop program faces several hurdles. The quality and feasibility of student proposals vary widely, requiring significant resources for review and refinement. Ensuring equitable access across diverse school systems remains a challenge, potentially limiting the program's reach. Moreover, maintaining student engagement beyond the workshop and translating enthusiasm into long-term civic participation poses ongoing difficulties.
Upgrading the Legislative Workshop with AI
By incorporating AI technologies, the Legislative Workshop could become even more widespread and impactful, revolutionizing how young people learn about and participate in the legislative process.
One of the most significant improvements would be personalization. AI could analyze each student's interests, learning style, and progress to create tailored learning paths within the curriculum. This would ensure students remain engaged and challenged regardless of their starting knowledge level. For students with disabilities, AI could provide real-time captioning, text-to-speech, or other assistive technologies to ensure equal participation, making the program truly inclusive.
Beyond individual learning, AI could foster unprecedented collaboration. By registering their initial interests, AI could suggest potential partnerships between students or classes working on similar topics, fostering cross-school collaboration and idea exchange. Classrooms could organize online discussions around their projects and work on joint proposals, rather than duplicating efforts and overwhelming Senate staff with numerous underdeveloped ideas.
By incorporating AI technologies, the Legislative Workshop could become even more widespread and impactful, revolutionizing how young people learn about and participate in the legislative process.
This collaborative approach could extend internationally as the Legislative Workshop concept spreads to other countries. Brazilian students could collaborate with peers from the United States, India, or Nigeria on global issues like climate change or digital privacy rights. AI-powered translation tools would break down language barriers, enabling truly global civic engagement among youth.
To enhance the learning experience, AI could power virtual simulations of the legislative process. Using AI-driven virtual or augmented reality, students could participate in lifelike recreations of parliamentary debates or committee hearings. These simulations could adapt in real-time based on students' decisions, providing a dynamic learning experience that brings the legislative process to life more effectively than textbooks.
AI could also provide instant, constructive feedback on students' legislative proposals, highlighting areas for improvement and suggesting resources for further learning. This would complement teacher guidance and allow for more rapid iteration of ideas, leading to better proposals and a higher likelihood of student ideas becoming actual legislation. The AI could be trained on successful past proposals and current legislative priorities, ensuring relevant and actionable feedback.
Finally, AI could help students navigate the complex ethical considerations inherent in lawmaking. An AI system could prompt students to consider various ethical implications of their proposed legislation, encouraging critical thinking about the broader impacts of laws on diverse populations. This could include simulations of how a proposed law might affect different demographic groups or regions over time, giving students a deeper understanding of the far-reaching consequences of legislation and the importance of thoughtful lawmaking.
The Legislative Workshop program represents a powerful investment in Brazil's democratic future. By engaging young people directly in the legislative process, it not only educates them about governance mechanics but also instills civic responsibility and empowerment. The program's success in generating thousands of student-led proposals, some influencing actual legislation, demonstrates its potential to shape a more engaged and informed citizenry.
As these young participants grow into voting adults, they carry with them not just knowledge of how laws are made, but the confidence and experience that has come from participation and that might blossom into even more active citizenship.
The final post in this series will discuss the Senate’s online Public Consultation portal that allows citizens to voice their opinions on pending legislation and how AI could enable an even more deliberative and impactful system.
