Title:

Fair, Representative, and Transparent Algorithms for Citizens’ Assemblies

Abstract:

Globally, an alternative approach to democracy is gaining momentum: citizens’ assemblies, in which randomly selected constituents discuss policy questions and propose solutions. Domain experts have two conflicting requirements on the selection of these assemblies: (1) assemblies should reflect the demographics of the population, and (2) all constituents should have equal chances of being selected. In this talk, I will describe work on designing and analyzing randomized selection algorithms that favorably trade off these objectives. I will share experiences with deploying these algorithms on our online platform Panelot and discuss what we learned from practitioners in the process of adoption. Finally, I will explore how these lessons sparked work on other aspects of citizens’ assemblies, such as making the random selection process transparent and managing the discussions within the assembly.

Bio:

Paul Gölz is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University under the supervision of Ariel Procaccia. Paul studies democratic decision-making and the fair allocation of resources, using tools from algorithms, optimization, and artificial intelligence. Algorithms developed in his work are now deployed to select citizens’ assemblies around the world and to allocate refugees for a major US resettlement agency.