Belgian citizens meet to reflect on AI

As part of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU, our Federal Public Service organised a citizens' panel on artificial intelligence, which is a promising but risky technology. A total of 60 citizens developed a vision that will inspire the European Commission and the Belgian government and inform their policies. Citizen participation of the highest order!

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People gathered around long table putting green cards in the air

The citizens' panel in action: who agrees? © FPS Foreign Affairs

As part of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU, our Federal Public Service organised a citizens' panel on artificial intelligence, which is a promising but risky technology. A total of 60 citizens developed a vision that will inspire the European Commission and the Belgian government and inform their policies. Citizen participation of the highest order!

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Peace, justice and strong institutions

In recent years, Belgium has developed a great deal of expertise in the participation of citizens in decision-making, otherwise known as citizen participation. Back in 2021, our FPS Foreign Affairs also organised a panel of 50 Belgians selected at random on the subject of citizens' engagement with the EU (see box).

We can even say without any doubt that Belgian expertise in citizen participation has become an export product. Our know-how is regularly called upon from abroad.

What came before: Belgian expertise in citizen participation

It all began back in 2011 when, for the first time, 1,000 randomly selected Belgian citizens gathered in Brussels. The purpose of this was for them to deliberate together on social security and the distribution of wealth in times of crisis and immigration.

This first-ever G1000 citizens' summit created an appetite for more. Its initiator David Van Reybrouck published his book "Tegen verkiezingen" (Against Elections) in 2013, and it has since been translated into 15 languages. And this was not without consequence. G1000 became a recognised non-profit organisation. And in 2019, the parliament of the German-speaking community in Belgium unanimously decided to establish a permanent citizens' council, with support from G1000.

That same year, the parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region also set up a participation platform to involve citizens more closely in policymaking. For example, citizens can submit suggestions to organise a debate in parliament between parliamentarians and a number of citizens designated at random.

In 2021, our FPS also decided to carry out this by way of an experiment. In the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe, we organised a citizens' panel on the topic of: How can we improve democracy in Europe and how can we ensure that people show more interest in the EU. The panel's discussions ultimately yielded 50 recommendations. G1000 was involved in that, too.

An AI Act

It therefore comes as no surprise that our government also wanted to organise a citizens' panel during Belgium's presidency of the Council of the EU. Organising the panel was entirely in the hands of our FPS. As a theme, we chose artificial intelligence (AI). Why? Very recently, AI has actually become an extremely hot topic: a promising technology, but one that also brings with it a lot of risks and raises many questions.

So the EU was quick to draft an AI Act: robust regulation to maximise the potential of AI without compromising civil rights. This is a world first! Among other things, the law proposes a risk pyramid with 4 ascending levels of risk. The higher the risk, the more stringent the measure. Some applications pose no or little risk, while others are unacceptable.

This AI Act should finally enter into force in 2026. But were citizens' concerns adequately addressed? That is precisely what the citizens' panel set up by our FPS wanted to find out.

A representative panel

To organise it, we built on our previous experience in operating the citizens' panel on citizen engagement with the EU. We randomly selected 60 Belgians from as diverse a range of backgrounds as possible to participate in the panel. To make the selection as representative as possible, we sent out as many as 16,200 invitations across the country. In response, 1,070 people – and that's a lot! – agreed to take part.

From the 1,070 interested parties, we then selected 60 participants based on various criteria:

  • gender (about an equal number of women and men, 1 non-binary person)
  • city/countryside
  • age (with enough young people set to vote for the first time in the 2024 European elections)
  • profession
  • language (60% Dutch speakers and 40% French speakers)
  • nationality of the person's mother.

This way, the participants chosen reflected the diversity of the Belgian population as much as possible.

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Two women hold up a whiteboard in front of a group of people, engaging in a brainstorm

Collecting ideas... © FPS Foreign Affairs

Various perspectives

After that, the 60 participants met for 3 weekends at the Egmont Palace in Brussels. There, they could speak freely, irrespective of their background, environment, course of life and opinions. High-quality mentors guided the discussions and ensured a confidential environment.

Needless to say, many participants were completely unfamiliar with the topic. That was the reason why experts were always on hand to explain AI in detail. What are the potential consequences, for example, for defence, healthcare and employment? What does the EU's AI Act say?

The participants then discussed the topic from a wide variety of perspectives: security, ethics, employment, social issues, technological sovereignty, economic competitiveness, democracy and policy.

9 key messages

The rich and engaging debates resulted in 9 key messages. For example, AI offers the ability to create deep fake video footage in which certain individuals do or say things that are completely false. The AI Act assumes that the risk of this is limited. The citizens' panel, on the other hand, felt that deep fake poses a serious threat to society and should therefore be given a higher risk level.

The panel was also very strongly of the opinion that AI in all its applications should never be the only one making decisions; a human must always be involved in the decision-making process as well. This is certainly essential in a defence context, when a decision must be made to bomb targets.

Furthermore, the panel emphasised the fact that the EU's approach to AI needs to fulfil a number of requirements. It must be:

  • sufficiently sustainable (not enough consideration is given to carbon footprint)
  • ambitious (the EU must not lag behind countries such as China, the USA and Russia, which are investing billions in it)
  • ethical and inclusive (AI should serve the common good and no one should be left out).

AI should neither undermine democracy nor affect employment. And communicating clearly to the general public is crucial.

Together, the key messages form a vision that is meant to inspire the next European Commission to formulate its Strategic Agenda for the period 2024-2029. Also the Belgian government can use it to determine its positions around AI in the coming years.

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Deliberations with small group gathered around a table in a conference room.

Deliberations were also held in smaller groups. © FPS Foreign Affairs

A shared vision

In any case, our FPS can look back with satisfaction on the participatory process and on the excellent organisation. It was also encouraging to note that the final text was approved almost unanimously – except for 3 minor comments – by the full panel. It is therefore possible to work out a shared vision with a group of people from completely different backgrounds.

All attendees also expressed extreme satisfaction with their participation. Initial uncertainty, doubt or stress melted away once the panel got well under way. “What motivates me most of all is the fact that there was not a single moment when I felt I was wasting my time,” said Anse, one of participants on the panel. “It's a very useful initiative and I'm learning a lot from it.”

What is more, having the opportunity to participate in a democratic decision-making process was a very satisfying experience. “To my friends, I often have to explain exactly what a citizens' panel involves," said Samuel. Now he has gained trust in the process. “Involving citizens in debates of this kind is interesting. It doesn't happen everywhere and people's voices count, especially now. The right of citizens to express their ideas and opinions about something that is happening in Belgium is very important. I hope those in power will take notice.”

Closing event

The final event of the whole process took place on Saturday 25 May. The participating citizens then presented their vision to the politicians in the presence of representatives of civil society and the private sector.

The Belgian Minister of the Interior confirmed her wish and ambition that citizen participation will become increasingly important in the future. Colin Scicluna – Head of Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission – congratulated Belgium on the initiative and reaffirmed the Commission's commitment to continue to encourage deliberative democracy – both at European level and within the Member States. "Your report will be useful to the next Commission." In his video message, the Belgian Prime Minister emphasized that the message was heard and that it will be taken into account. He invited the citizens to meet him at 16 rue de la Loi to discuss their vision.

In any case, the discussions and the final report made an impression. MEP Dragos Tudorache thought it was a great job. "Some things are already included in the AI Act, but others are new, such as the education aspect. We will have to rethink education with AI. It is the responsibility of the politicians to bring society more on board."

Corina Stratulat (European Policy Center) put it this way: "You proved that citizens are capable of dealing with difficult topics. And you didn't shy away from the hard questions. You offered a long-term vision that is perhaps more ambitious than that of the politicians."

Let us hope that we are one step closer to a society in which citizens are truly heard and the gap between politicians and citizens is much smaller.