So that everyone can have their say: Citizens' assembly on AI research

Driving through Tübingen today, you can still see some of the house façades painted by Anika Kaiser – back in the time when she wanted to start out in life as quickly as possible and began training as a painter straight after finishing secondary school. ‘I wanted to earn my own living and stand on my own two feet,’ says Anika Kaiser today. ‘I'd had enough of studying and wanted an outdoor job in the open air‘. She started working for a painting and scaffolding company that not only painted the façades of buildings, but also had some architecturally challenging projects in its programme. Her most enjoyable work at that time involved the renovation of two churches.

Evenings devoted to general studies

But even then, she realised that she was actually interested in something else. After work, she often travelled to the University of Tübingen to attend public lectures in the field of generale studies – lectures on the social function of laughter or eating disorders, for example. ‘It was the humanities that appealed to me the most,’ says Anika Kaiser. It was then that she harboured the desire to take up studying seriously. But the path to a university career was a long one. She gave birth to her first daughter while she was still an apprentice – at the age of 18. Two years later, her first son was born. But in 2012 she made up her mind. She wanted to catch up on her A-levels so that she could get a place at university – and cancelled her apprenticeship.

Today, more than ten years later, she has achieved what was still a far-off dream at the time. She has arrived in the humanities. She is a doctoral student at the Department of General Rhetoric at the University of Tübingen, more precisely at the RHET-AI Centre, a centre for research on science communication funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. She now has a bachelor's degree in rhetoric and a master's degree in digital humanities. It seems as if she has found the perfect mix between the abstract and the real world, because in her doctorate she is researching an aspect that is essential for our democracy: how can people have their say when it comes to the big issues of our time? How is it possible to comprehensively make visible the views of the population alongside scientific perspectives?

Citizens' Assembly on the topic of AI

Specifically, the RHET-AI Centre at the University of Tübingen and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology focuses on the hot topic of artificial intelligence (AI). Many people today associate the term AI with chatbots such as ChatGPT, artificially generated images or humanoid robots. AI is fascinating, but it also triggers peoples’ fears. Many millions of euros are channelled into AI research every year. In this respect, the topic is of public interest.

Her doctorate investigates how the different perspectives on AI research can be entered into the equation. Together with Patrick Klügel, Manager for Public Engagement at the University of Tübingen, and other members of her team, she set up the Citizens' Assembly on Artificial Intelligence and Freedom. Together, they brought together around 40 people from different regions of Baden-Württemberg at four assembly meetings held on the topic of AI. The participants were selected by lot. The aim was to discuss the topic of AI research and to develop ideas on how publicly funded AI research can be supported by society.

As a rhetorician, Anika Kaiser knows how difficult it is at such events to allow everyone an equal opportunity to voice their experiences and opinions. There are various reasons why people in a group do not want to speak or are not heard. Anika Kaiser is well aware of these mechanisms. Some people lack the technical terms to express themselves accurately. Others are afraid to speak when others appear more dominant. Some people talk a lot and hardly let others have their say.

‘Such factors can distort the shaping of opinions and not everyone has the opportunity to their express views.’ It important to create a space in which everyone feels comfortable and feels free to express themselves. For the Citizens' Assembly this is particularly important because in March 2025 the results will be summarised in the the form of recommendations for science and politics which a team from the Citizens' Assembly was presented to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science in March 2025.

The ideal of equality

Anika Kaiser's doctoral thesis goes beyond these recommendations. Above all, she is interested in analysing the interaction between the assembly members council during the meetings. With this in mind and in cooperation with the Centre for Media Competence (ZFM) at the University of Tübingen, she audio and video recordings of the meetings. She is now taking a closer look at these. Her work is based on the democratic ideal of deliberation, the idea that everyone in a group should be free and equal – and therefore have the same opportunity to participate in the joint knowledge-building process. ‘Plenary events such as citizens' assemblies are legitimised by this ideal of deliberation. I want to find out whether citizens' assemblies can actually be designed in such a way that they fulfil this ideal.’

This is by no means trivial. For example, certain prejudices that affect the credibility of people cannot simply be eradicated, such as those that arise from how a person appears to us. ‘It's completely normal for us to automatically think about who is speaking, what kind of person they are and what interests they are pursuing,’ says Anika Kaiser. If someone speaks with a broad accent, for example, this can make them seem less competent to listeners.

Experts distinguish between two forms of injustice: testimonial injustice and hermeneutic injustice. Testimonial injustice is when someone is perceived as less credible due to prejudices, regardless of how reliable or competent the person actually may be. In this context, gender, colour of skin or social background play a role. Hermeneutic injustice occurs when a person is unable to express their thoughts or opinions because the necessary knowledge or language skills are not available. ‘In situations like this, some people start using inappropriate terms and arguments to explain what another person wants to say instead of letting them finish,’ says Anika Kaiser. Such behaviour also prevents all members of a group from being equal.

As a rhetorician, she sees her task as developing alternative forms of communication and interaction so that everyone can express themselves on the major issues of our time in order that many different voices from across society are heard. As some people find it difficult to speak in front of a group, the Citizens' Assembly, for example, worked a lot with hand signals such as ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’.

Recognising mechanisms of exclusion

‘Of course, there are sophisticated methods for leading a group in workshops and seminars,‘ she says, ‘but it's a completely different matter to recognise the exclusion mechanisms that sometimes exclude certain knowledge contributions.’ Of course, she has to have a talent for communication for her work. This became evident quite early on. Before her studies, she visited the careers information centre at the job centre – where she took a test that assessed her personal skills and talents. ‘It turned out that I would be well suited to the role of city mayor, which also requires me to be particularly communicative,’ she says.

Ultimately, her Citizens' Assembly is a very small sample – 40 people out of a total of eleven million in the whole of Baden-Württemberg is not a lot. However, to ensure that the Citizens' Councils are as diverse as possible, the four meetings were held in towns of different sizes, also with the aim to include both and the rural urban population.

Important dialogue between society and science

This is a win for the dialogue between society and science. ‘On the one hand, politics expects science to provide socially relevant insights,’ says Anika Kaiser. ‘Secondly, science, with its core task of research, is fundamentally motivated by the desire to gain knowledge.’ In this respect, science has an intrinsic interest in learning about people's experiences and values in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of its research and its relationship to society.

Anika Kaiser hopes to finish her doctorate next year. She should manage it, having already achieved so much in the past 15 years. After all, her third child was born during her master's degree. ‘I don't know what adult life is like without children. In that sense, it's normal,’ she says. Of course, it was often exhausting. But with a student grant, part-time jobs, and maintenance, it was manageable. In addition, the rent for the apartment in the university's family residence was affordable. And there is one thing that sets her apart, she says. She has drive. ‘Whenever I feel like I can't do something, I feel the drive to succeed all the more,’ says Anika Kaiser. ’During my A-levels, I struggled with maths – and then at university, the first thing I did was take economics, which involves a lot of maths.’ And even when she dropped out of her apprenticeship without knowing whether she would receive a student grant, she still had the will to see it through. In this respect, it will be interesting to see what she achieves with her doctorate at RHET-AI and the citizens' assembly.