Citizens in the Loop

Imagining how U.S. democracy can survive and thrive in the age of AI.

Loop crowd
Our Purpose

AI is reshaping how citizens learn, deliberate, and decide. In the years ahead, how people form beliefs, acquire and wield power, and interact with their government will all change dramatically.

Citizens in the Loop (The Loop for short!) is a space to ask:

What do we need for the 250-year-old American experiment in democracy to come through the AI transition stronger (or at least intact)?

The key questions cut across institutions and disciplines. No single field has the answers, and the people working on these problems rarely sit in the same room. The Loop is an invitation to that room.

Conference Themes

Four sets of questions to explore

01
Citizenship & Participation
  • Who gets a say in the values AI systems embody?
  • What are the roles and responsibilities of citizens in an AI-infused democracy?
  • What obligations do AI tools and agents have, and to whom?
  • How do we establish identity and personhood in a world where people and agents interact in the same digital spaces?
  • How might AI help scale meaningful human participation in democracy?
02
The Information Ecosystem
  • How do we preserve a shared sense of reality when people learn about the world with individually-personalized agents?
  • How can society incentivize the production of reliable, high-quality information?
  • How can people control what information they share about themselves?
03
Power & Money
  • What are the implications for self-governance as AI's expansion shifts wealth and power in society?
  • How should fiscal policy — both taxation and social spending — change in response to these shifts?
  • What sources of purpose and meaning will people have if work becomes scarce?
04
The Public Sector
  • How can the constitutional system of checks and balances maintain meaningful oversight over an AI-empowered government?
  • When does due process imply the right to a human decision?
  • What is the appropriate role for the government in regulating or owning AI models and AI companies?
  • How does the government attract, train, and retain the workforce needed to navigate an age of AI?
The People

Who will be there

The Loop is invitation-only, aiming for 100 participants with a range of views, expertise, and influence.

  • Researchers, engineers, and executives at the leading AI labs
  • Civic technologists and organizers building tools for participation
  • Scholars of democracy, governance, political economy, and law
  • Funders, founders, and operators backing democratic innovation
  • Journalists, editors, and others shaping the information ecosystem
  • Leaders in federal, state, and local government

Attendees share a belief in government by and for the people, an expectation that AI will fundamentally reshape American society, and a willingness to engage constructively across divergent perspectives.

The Experience

What you can expect

The schedule is built around the conversations that are harder to make happen at larger conferences — small-group workshops, structured debates, and unstructured time to find the right people to learn from and think with. Sessions will skew interactive.

The entire conference will be held under Chatham House rule, giving participants room to go beyond their public positions.

  • FridayEvening kickoff reception
  • SaturdayFull day of sessions and workshops
  • SundayMorning sessions, wraps by midday
Steering Committee

Organized by the Golden Gate Institute for AI

with guidance from:

Danielle Allen
Harvard University
Dean Ball
Foundation for American Innovation
Alexandra Reeve-Givens
Center for Democracy and Technology
Divya Siddarth
Collective Intelligence Project
Andrew Sorota
Office of Eric Schmidt