Author(s)/Creator(s)

Nicholas CroceFollow

ORCID

Nicholas Croce: 0000-0002-4998-7729

Document Type

Article

Date

Spring 1-27-2025

Keywords

public administration, Artificial Intelligence (AI), natural language processing, deliberative democracy, generative chatbots in government

Language

English

Disciplines

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics | Communication Technology and New Media | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication | Other Political Science | Public Administration | Science and Technology Studies

Description/Abstract

What will be the role of chatbots in 21st century democratic processes? Considering the potential implementations of artificial intelligence (AI) “chatbots” or large language models (LLMs) with a natural language processing (NLP) interface for use in public administration, policy-making, and deliberative democratic processes, this essay explores representative and access-boosting roles for such chatbots: how they could supplement constituent services, increase access to government programs, facilitate deliberation, and perhaps even act as posthuman representatives within a deliberative democratic process. The essay reviews the burgeoning, multi-disciplinary academic literature dealing with the use of chatbots in both government and deliberative contexts—literature that probes questions of utility, representational ethics, equity and access. The essay concludes with an itinerary for further thinking and research, emphasizing the importance of both impact and formative evaluation.

ISSN

2398-4910

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Available for download on Thursday, January 28, 2027

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