AI Agents and the Future of Deliberation: Designing Human–AI Collaboration for Democratic Dialogue

As societies grapple with increasing polarization and information complexity, the need for constructive, inclusive, and well-informed deliberation has reached an unparalleled level. At the same time, AI agents, ranging from LLMs and multi-agent simulations and systems to conversational assistants and reflective companions, are rapidly reshaping how people communicate, reason together, and form collective judgments. These technologies hold the potential to scale democratic participation, foster inclusivity by bridging linguistic and cultural barriers, and introduce new forms of collaborative reasoning. Yet they also pose epistemic challenges to established notions of authenticity, legitimacy, and human autonomy in civic dialogue. This panel brings together leading researchers from Asia, Europe and North America to examine how AI technologies are transforming deliberation as both a social process and a design problem. It interrogates AI’s role in shaping deliberative norms, influencing group dynamics, and redefining what it means to “reason together” in hybrid human–AI spaces. Through interactive polling, structured debates, and audience co-deliberation, the session invites CHI participants to collectively explore how we can design responsible, inclusive, and trustworthy deliberation interfaces that preserve the democratic values of deliberation while embracing the creative potential of AI.