The AI era’s call for greater inclusivity in governance and design decisions is not new. Many of us in civic tech still quote the phrase “Build With, Not For” that Cuán McCann popularized in 2014. I also learned this week that “Nothing About Us Without Us” entered the contemporary policy lexicon via disability rights activists in South Africa and Eastern Europe in the 1990s—and that they were referencing a 16th century Polish law.

Two expert friends released valuable resources on participation in AI governance and design recently: Tim Davies and his colleagues at Connected by Data posted findings from the People’s Panel on AI, a citizen consultation held “to address the glaring absence of public voice” at the 2023 UK AI Safety Summit and Lina Srivastava published an introduction to “Building Community Governance for AI,” based on principles to center community leaders and narrative power ...