People's Panel update

_posts/2023-10-21-peoples-panel-update.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: People's Panel on AI Progress Update
+author: Tim Davies
+category: blog
+projects:
+  - People's Panel on AI
+---
+
+> [Join us for a 30 minute briefing on the People's Panel on Friday 29th October at 09:30am and/or register for daily updates in Summit week](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczHuF7dIMGuPVegZ8kNBB4oZmOwvmSxV8Ic7WMx0HTerY2UQ/viewform) 
+
+One month ago, after listening to an episode of the [Facilitating Public Deliberation podcast](https://facilitatingpublicdeliberation.libsyn.com/episode-1-ned-and-pat-mixdown-1) on Citizen's Juries and the [Oregon Citizens Initiative Review](https://participedia.net/method/592) I put together and shared around [a rough concept note](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1X4fHh0yJ8DI-X7UKkM_ODnunTyLVOPZFKrw52wzioUM/edit) to propose a deliberative citizen's review of the upcoming AI Safety Summit and AI Fringe. The idea is simple: if the impacts of AI are going to be felt by everyone, then we need more than just industry, government or elite institutional voices to be shaping the debate. 
+
+While we can't have direct access to the invite-only government-run [AI Safety Summit](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-safety-summit-introduction) , by looking to the materials that are are due to be shared (webcasts and communiques), and the broad range of sessions and speakers brought together at the [AI Fringe](https://aifringe.org/) that we can access, we have an opportunity for diverse members of the public to engage with a substantial breadth of the AI Safety and governance debate, and to develop considered positions on where future priorities for action should be. 
+
+Much like the Citizens Initiative Review adapts the citizens jury model for members of the public to interpret a complex ballot measure for their fellow voters, we wanted to explore how a Citizens' Review of the AI Summit week could support a diverse group to provide insight and informed opinions that might feed new perspectives into the crowded (albeit unrepresentative) public debate on AI.
+
+We've been delighted to receive support from a range of partner and funders to help us go from idea to project in record time. **[Mozilla Foundation](https://foundation.mozilla.org/)** have come on board as our anchor funder, and the [Accelerate Programme for Scientific Discovery](https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/accelerate), the [Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science, and the Public](https://www.kcesp.ac.uk/), and the [Ada Lovelace Institute](https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/) have all contributed resources, allowing us to hire experienced deliberation practice [Hopkins Van Mil](http://www.hopkinsvanmil.co.uk/) as a delivery partner, to work with [Sortition Foundation](https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/) on participant selection, and to bring [Anna Beckett](https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-beckett-658b3913/?originalSubdomain=uk) on board as an independent evaluator. [Milltown Partners](https://www.milltownpartners.com/) have provided invaluable support both with access to the AI Fringe, and practical advice and guidance to help us leverage the AI Fringe as a source of evidence for the work, now titled 'The People's Panel on AI'. 
+
+### Status update
+
+With just over a week until the Summit, we're making solid progress:
+
+* We've convened a fantastic advisory group to oversee the project, helping us refine questions for the People's Panel to consider, shaping communications plans, and advising on sessions and experts to engage with. 
+* We've recruited 11 of the 12 People's Panel members, and hope to confirm the last member soon: working with Sortition Foundation to select a stratified random sample from over 490 expressions of interest (a great response rate for a short-notice invite to spend almost a week in London focussed on a new topic).
+* We've put together an outline programme of sessions, including making connections with the [Kavli Centre's Hopes and Fears Lab](https://www.kcesp.ac.uk/projects/the-hopes-and-fears-lab/), and reaching out to a range of experts to speak with the Panel.
+* We're been working on planning how to capture and communicate deliberations and panel findings: balancing creating space and freedom for Panel participants to explore new issues safely, whilst maximising opportunities for messages from the Panel to each decision shapers and makers. 
+
+Over the next week we'll continue to prepare, with:
+
+* An initial webinar for Panel members;
+* Finalising logistics and meeting venues;
+* Running a briefing for anyone who wants to know more about the Panel;
+* The start of the independent evaluation process to support our project learning;
+* Futher communications planning
+
+If you want to get regular e-mail updates from the People's Panel throughout the Summit week, [you can sign up here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSczHuF7dIMGuPVegZ8kNBB4oZmOwvmSxV8Ic7WMx0HTerY2UQ/viewform). 
+### Advisory group membership 
+The following people are members of the project advisory group:
+
+* Octavia Reeve - Ada Lovelace Institute
+* Anna Colom - Ada Lovelace Institute
+* Aidan Peppin - Milltown Partners
+* Lex Harrison - Milltown Partners
+ * Linda Griffin - Mozilla Foundation
+* Jeni Tennison - Connected by Data
+* Richard Milne - Kavli Centre for Ethics, Science and the Public
+* Sophia Knight - Demos
+* Jack Stilgoe - Responsible AI UK
+- Martin Tisne - Luminate Strategic Initiatives