10 January 2024 | The 3rd edition of The Apolitical View by Apolitical CEO and Co-Founder Robyn Scott. Subcribe to the newsletter
We’re just 10 days into 2024, and the year’s tidal wave of elections is already upon us. Voters in Bangladesh and Bhutan were first to the ballot box last weekend, and up next is the highly consequential Taiwanese presidential election. It’s an unprecedented year for democracy — 69 countries representing nearly 4 billion people will vote, and generative AI will be in the mix to uncertain effect. It’s the democracy binge boxset, for better or worse, and as we're government geeks here at Apolitical, we are all riveted.
As the democratic process takes centre stage, so will the issue of delivery. How people experience government in their lives influences their engagement with democracy. A recent feature in the Financial Times — Can bureaucracy be refashioned as a force for good? — features our friends at the Berlin-based Creative Bureaucracy Festival and brings this issue to life with the story of a Mexican-born volunteer mayor in the German town of Mainz who showed that small gestures like listening properly go a long way. Fascinatingly, the head of a government statistics agency recently told me about some emerging research suggesting that trust in government increases with the total number of times a person interacts with government — even if those interactions are not all positive.
The World Economic Forum at Davos is back next week, and AI is dominating the agenda. The Apolitical Foundation team, led by my co-founder Lisa Witter, will be in Davos to host an event on AI and democracy. Featuring speakers like former New Zealand President Helen Clark, the event is attracting a lot of interest as topics like protecting elections from AI-driven misinformation and manipulation are top of mind. We’re also making sure the conversation covers some of the less examined opportunities of AI for democracy, such as voter education and large scale deliberations.
Some of the Davos crowd — including techies and senior European public servants — will head to the Alps via Munich for the innovation conference, DLD. Lisa and I will be there, where we’ll be interviewed by global AI expert, Azeem Azhar, founder of Exponential View and Bloomberg’s interview series Exponentially. We’ll be talking about the impact of AI on government and democracy. If you have insights to share on the topic for either event, do let us know by replying to this email or sharing your thoughts via the button below, and we’ll be sure to include shoutouts.
Robyn Scott
Apolitical CEO & Co-Founder
My recommendations
Regular readers will know that we launched our first Apolitical Community on the topic of AI last month. It’s grown to nearly 500 members, even over the quiet festive period. One of my favourite contributions so far is from the President of the Municipal Information Systems Association in Canada, who is regularly sharing the latest government guidance on generative AI. Join if you haven’t already!
What's in my diary this week
Wednesday 10 Jan | AI for Government Unconference | London, UK
Co-hosted by the No.10 Data Science Team and the Civic AI Observatory, this is a great opportunity to chat informally with public servants working through the thorniest issues of how we use AI in government responsibly.
11-13 January | Digital Life Design | Munich, Germany
15-19 January | World Economic Forum | Davos, Switzerland
And finally...
I’m fascinated by the potential of AI as a tool for policymaking. So when I received my five year old’s standardised school assessment the other day, I fed it into ChatGPT and asked what categories the education system was missing to prepare him for the world ahead. It flagged the absence of creativity, collaboration and digital skills. Kudos to the UK’s Department for Education, who hosted an AI hackathon for educators late last year. Here are some of the ideas that came out of it.
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