Public Lecture by Professor Sergey Sharov: “Inclusive Voices: Artificial Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy”

On June 23rd at 18:00, in Room S507 at Ilia State University, Professor Sergey Sharov from the School of Languages, Cultures, and Societies at the University of Leeds will give a lecture titled “Inclusive Voices: Artificial Intelligence for Deliberative Democracy.”

Professor Sharov will discuss the approaches and outcomes of the iDem project, funded through the EU Horizon program. The project aims to support the participation of marginalised groups—including the elderly, migrants, and individuals with mental health conditions—in democratic processes by addressing linguistic barriers.

The speaker will explore how Artificial Intelligence can enhance the participation of marginalized groups in inclusive democratic processes by overcoming linguistic barriers. While deliberative democracy emphasizes mutual understanding among diverse stakeholders, complex institutional language often excludes the elderly, migrants, and individuals with mental health conditions from meaningful engagement in civic platforms and online spaces. For this reason, the project, developed in collaboration with the City Council of Barcelona, Cibervoluntarios, PIM, and ANFFAS, focuses on three case studies involving these communities and aims to identify and address complex linguistic phenomena in Catalan, Italian, and Spanish to make deliberative processes more accessible. Drawing on Systemic-Functional Linguistics, the speaker will discuss how differences between language users (e.g., socio-demographic factors) and language use (e.g., communicative functions) influence participation in AI-mediated deliberation.

At the end of the lecture, Professor Sharov will reflect on two risks: on the one hand, overclaiming – creating overly optimistic expectations, and on the other hand, underclaiming – the risk of overlooking the potential of Artificial Intelligence to foster inclusive dialogue.

Working language: English

Date & Time: June 23, 18:00

Location: Room S507, Ilia State University, 3 G. Tsereteli Street

Everyone interested is welcome to attend.