How AI Can Boost Inclusiveness and Efficiency in Public Decision-Making

A new research paper that the Center for the Governance of Change (CGC) at IE University is publishing today argues that “The trajectory of AI in policymaking is still open. Whether AI reinforces democratic prosperity or erodes it depends on choices made today about governance, infrastructure, and investment.”

The publication, Better Policymaking in the Age of AI, is authored by Rony Medaglia, Professor in the Department of Digitalization at Copenhagen Business School.

The paper examines how AI can shape policymaking across the entire policy cycle: from agenda-setting and policy formulation to implementation and evaluation. AI offers significant opportunities to improve inclusiveness, efficiency, and evidence use in public decision-making. At the same time, the author argues, the risks of using AI in policymaking include distorting citizens’ representation, enabling policy discrimination, widening divides, and reducing accountability for automated decision-making.

To promote legitimate, inclusive, and trustworthy AI use in policymaking, the paper recommends three complementary pathways:

1) Expanding AI literacy to enable policymakers and civil servants to exercise informed judgment.

2) Embedding accountability and rule-of-law principles into the design and use of AI systems.

3) Developing open, sustainable, and sovereign AI models and infrastructures to reduce dependency on a small number of dominant providers.

Read the full research paper here.

This publication is the second in a series of research papers that the CGC will release as part of our AI4DemocraticProsperity program, run in strategic partnership with Microsoft. The program’s Research Lead is Claudio Feijóo, Jean Monnet Chair on Tech Diplomacy at the Technical University of Madrid.

AI4DemocraticProsperity seeks to unlock the potential of AI to strengthen democratic institutions while driving inclusive and sustainable growth. Learn more about it here: https://www.ie.edu/cgc/research/ai4democratic-prosperity/