What is Public and Democratic AI and Why it Matters

A growing set of efforts argues that the public should have a more direct stake in how AI systems are built and overseen. This idea travels under several names, public AI and democratic AI among them. At its core, this idea calls for greater public involvement in AI, more transparency and accountability in how those systems operate, and infrastructure that is open and shared rather than controlled by a single vendor. This session works through what these features mean on a practical level and why proponents believe they produce systems that are both more accountable and more capable. The goal is to give participants a clear and critical understanding of what public and democratic AI offers, what it asks of the government, and why the distinction from a purely commercial approach matters for their work.