Abstract

Two trends are converging in countries around the world. Public anxiety about artificial intelligence is growing while communities satisfaction in how they participate and shape government is declining. Emerging examples from Bogotá, Hamburg, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere show how AI can sharply improve the quality and experience of public engagement while reducing its time and cost. If done poorly or without safeguards, it can also introduce new risks. However, these can be managed with appropriate design, regulation and delivery by skilled practitioners.

This paper examines how artificial intelligence and digital platforms are changing what is possible, and suggests that a key opportunity is to build public-sector capability to deliver meaningful engagement.
The paper makes three claims: 

1. First, meaningful public engagement is a professional skill that requires practitioners to define clear goals, identify and reach appropriate participants, design effective tasks, interpret public input, and connect participation to decisions. Evidence from Australia and New Zealand suggests that public servants want these skills but rarely receive systematic training in them. 
2. Second, the very technologies driving many parts of public concern could also help governments listen and respond more effectively, make better decisions, and rebuild democratic trust. AI and digital platforms can reduce the time and cost of large-scale engagement, making forms of participation feasible that were previously difficult to sustain. The binding constraint is no longer cost or technology but capability to design and use. These technologies, however, need to be designed and used in ways that support democratic values and human judgment.
3. Third, realising this potential requires not only skilled practitioners but also appropriate digital infrastructure and regulation, alongside organisational support and demand.

The paper then explores opportunities for Australian institutions to teach a nine-step framework for AI-enabled engagement and sets out a research agenda to test whether such training changes practice. It introduces an approach to building these skills across public service and public-impact organisations, starting with a new free, self-paced online course developed by The GovLab and InnovateUS at Northeastern University, and Harvard's Ash Center for Democracy Renovation, with input from more than 50 practitioners and experts across 24 countries. A pilot in Australia will follow the online course, testing how in-person workshops and skill-building can reinforce and apply those skills.

The paper concludes by recommending that governments invest in engagement skills, in platforms designed for democratic engagement, and in making public engagement a routine part of policy design, service delivery, and implementation.

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