2024 Award "Best Practice in Citizen Participation"

18th Edition

Phase 6 of 7

Publication Preparation 08/09/2024 - 15/10/2024

Process phases

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beEU Citizen Panel on Artificial Intelligence

Official proposal

02/05/2024 12:00

The beEU citizens' panel in the context of the Belgian presidency of the European Council selected 60 participants from the entire Belgian territory. The panel is as representative as possible of the Belgian demography, but places an emphasis on young people up to 24 years old, following the example of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The panel consisted of three weekends at the Egmont Palace in Brussels, with a closing ceremony at the end of May during which the citizens' vision is presented.

The panel discusses a complicated theme that has become central to everyone's lives in just a few years: artificial intelligence. This topic arouses diverse emotions among the participants and was discussed with policy makers, experts and by the participants themselves, both in plenary format and in subgroups. The discussions were structured according to sub-themes of democracy, security, labour, environment, health and Europe's position in the world.

The process started with a fair that gave participants impressions of the applications for which artificial intelligence is currently used by government organizations and companies. Furthermore, the topic was discussed in depth in varying plenary format and subgroups of ten participants. Every weekend, several experts came by to discuss with the participants to answer their questions and concerns. The Belgian State Secretary for Digitalization went into discussion with citizens as well.

An experienced team of facilitators monitored the inclusiveness of the discussions and an oversight committee was established to adjust the methodology and output after each weekend. Extensive measures were taken to ensure inclusivity: a small volunteer fee for participation, accommodation for people who live far away, interpreters for all plenary sessions. The speaking time of participants was monitored so that it remained balanced and timid people also remained involved.

It built up to an observation, message and vision about each subtheme. The observation is a state of affairs about which the message makes a statement. The vision is future-oriented and serves as inspiration for the public and private sector in the future further development of AI. These are presented in a report and presented in a final ceremony. The aim is to obtain a vision that will take on a life of its own in the next institutional cycle, contributing to other agendas such as the EU's strategic agenda 2024-2029.