Over 30 practitioners from across the globe joined us for this workshop on zoom, mapping out practical plans for the Citizens’ Track on AI community assembly toolkit.
The Miro board we were using filled up fast with critical reflections from practitioners reflecting on work across the UK, India, Uganda, South Sudan, and beyond. A few key themes stood out:
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Material realities over hype: Deliberation must look beyond screen interfaces to examine the physical footprints of AI—energy grids, water consumption, critical mineral extraction, data centre siting, and the e-waste burdens disproportionately impacting the Global South.
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Context, language, and power: Tackling the digital and AI divide means designing assemblies that account for linguistic bias, indigenous knowledge protection, data sovereignty, and local livelihood impacts.
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Demystifying the tech: Moving participants past the “inevitability” and “arms race” narratives so communities understand that AI isn’t magic—it’s driven by human choices, incentives, and regulatory decisions that can be questioned and reshaped.
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Concrete routes to impact: Whether it’s local collective asks around municipal procurement, community action, or feeding directly into global policy processes—including the Road to Geneva and UN dialogues—deliberation must lead to tangible agency, not despair.
The further results of this workshop, and others as part of the Community Assemblies Toolkit, will be published on the toolkit page shortly.
Original workshop invite (Archived)
The impacts of AI, and the wider forces around it, are arriving fast. But what happens when communities have time to pause, learn about, share different perspectives on, and discuss AI?
The Citizens’ Track on AI governance is an initiative to foster grassroots public participation around AI, and to connect grassroots views with the spaces that are shaping the future of AI, from communities, to industry and global governance fora.
Over October we’re planning to co-create a toolkit for ‘community assemblies on AI’: independently organised gatherings that invite participants to take part in flexible learning and discussion activities, looking at AI from different angles, before identifying messages and actions they want taken forward.
Join this short online briefing and workshop to learn more about the Citizens’ Track, how community assemblies can transform public engagement around AI, to shape the priorities for our upcoming co-creation sprint, and to find out how you can get involved.