DESCRIPTION
As AI becomes more involved in public deliberation processes, this project works to define and teach what good facilitation looks like, helping train people and AI systems to support collective decision-making, self-governance, and meaningful public participation.
With partners:
- https://harmonica.chat/ Artem Zhiganov
- https://commoningstandard.org/ Cecile Green
- https://crown-shy.com/ Stuart Lynn
- https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/oxford-computational-political-science-group Maria Milosh
Lead Facilitator: Lee DeSota
PATHS TO PARTICIPATION
This project emerged from Metagov’s 2025 AI & Facilitation Seminar series, join the conversation in the Metagov Slack at #ai-facilitation.
In 2026, we received a grant from the Mozilla Foundation to create a synthesis of expert knowledge, practices, and skills of two of the many steps in a full deliberation stack:
‘elicitation’ (provisional definition: understanding one’s own position)
‘encountering’ (provisional definition: relating one’s position to other people’s positions)
along with the criteria for evaluating the success of AI agents in supporting individuals through those steps.
This is an invitation to deliberative facilitators to apply to participate in this process, which will take place virtually this Fall (September-November 2026) with some work through June 2027, and, if accepted, receive a small stipend ($200) and recognition of authorship.
DISCUSSION FORUM
Meetings are partners only.