Democracy Innovators Podcast

Sir Geoff Mulgan discusses how democracy can evolve through citizens’ assemblies, participatory budgeting and stronger public input into parliaments. Drawing on his experience in government and democratic innovation, he makes the case for long-term roadmaps while examining how AI could both support participation and enable manipulation. He also considers what protest movements need to turn momentum into lasting change.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Halfdan Lynge draws on his work in Danish digital government and his experience in Mozambique to discuss where civic tech and GovTech overlap, and how infrastructure, funding and regulation shape what can be built. He and Alessandro then consider what happens when AI agents become an interface between citizens and government. The conversation ends with a question for democracy itself: how might its institutions change as technology changes the way people participate?

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Isabella Roberts discusses her move from finance and electoral politics into research on deliberative democracy, AI and immersive technology. She explains her BoomTown Festival experiment using surveys and biosensors during mini citizens’ assemblies, including an early finding of increased shared identity among participants. The conversation also examines human-centred principles for digital deliberation and how technology might support participation without displacing reflection, listening and human connection.

Isabella links

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Paul Nemitz examines how concentrated control over data, infrastructure and AI can weaken democratic life, and argues that these technologies are not politically neutral. Drawing on his experience with the GDPR and other EU digital legislation, he discusses regulatory enforcement, the limits of treating code as law, and the importance of human judgment. The conversation concludes with a case for decentralizing AI and involving technologists directly in democratic institutions and debate.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Thomas Lorenz discusses Brief nach Berlin, an open-source, AI-assisted tool that helps citizens identify the appropriate political representative, draft a letter about a local concern and then copy it by hand. The conversation uses this practical project to examine how civic technology can lower barriers to participation while preserving meaningful human action. It also considers AI’s risks for privacy, dependence and social isolation, as well as its potential to make public administration more responsive and democratic collaboration easier.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Terry Bouricius is a former Vermont lawmaker who has spent decades working on democracy reform, now focused on sortition — the use of random selection to form representative citizens’ bodies. His experience as both a politician and reformer led him to question whether elections are actually democratic. In this episode, he explains why he sees elected legislatures as inherently oligarchic, drawing on citizens’ assemblies, ancient Athens, and experiments in Ireland and elsewhere. We discuss how randomly selected bodies could make laws, how technology and AI might support deliberation, why advisory assemblies need real consequences, and why politicians may have little incentive to pursue consensus. Bouricius also outlines his vision for a multi-body democracy beyond elections.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Malik Lakoubay is a system builder and co-runs the Expanding Civilizational Optionality initiative at Dark Matter Labs, working at the intersection of civic infrastructure, finance, technology, and democratic renewal. In this episode, he explores how technology can enable new forms of participation and collective decision-making, from quadratic voting to community sensing in Mumbai. The conversation takes a provocative turn into “civic finance”: treating civic infrastructure as an asset class and exploring democracy bonds as a way to mobilize private capital for public value. Lakoubay also discusses token economics, incentive design, and why democratic innovation may require rethinking how value is created, measured, and shared.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Olivier Schulbaum co-founded Platoniq, a foundation at the intersection of participation, civic technology, culture, social innovation and democratic experimentation. He explains why citizen assemblies on sensitive issues should begin with those most affected, allowing them to shape the agenda before experts frame the question. The conversation also examines how institutional “technification” can drain citizens’ proposals of their original meaning. It then turns to GRID, an experimental AI agent with a legislative-theatre “joker” that interrupts the flow and asks participants to reflect. Rather than treating AI as a frictionless route to consensus, Schulbaum explores technology that deliberately introduces friction into deliberation.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Ryan Koch, host of Civic Tech Chat, joins Alessandro Oppo for a cross-podcast conversation about the evolution of civic tech and the growing role of AI in public-interest technology. They discuss volunteer civic-tech communities, faster prototyping, public data, and the boundaries between civic tech, gov tech, and public-interest tech.

The conversation also examines deterministic systems, AI guardrails, explainability, human oversight in public services, the political choices embedded in software, and how technology might support more direct forms of democratic participation.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.

Gianluca Misuraca of Inspiring Futures Europe, coordinator of the European Union AI Skills Academy, discusses how foresight can help societies shape technological change. He explains why democratic control of AI depends on digital sovereignty, public-sector skills, interoperability, better procurement, and meaningful citizen participation.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.