Selected for Mozilla Foundation's "Democracy x AI" Incubator

We are pleased to announce that Cartographer (Baisoku Kaigi), the consensus-building tool developed by Plural Reality, has been selected for the "Democracy x AI" incubator cohort run by the Mozilla Foundation.

The cohort supports teams around the world that use AI to strengthen, rather than erode, democratic decision-making. Plural Reality is the team selected from Japan.

Cartographer helps residents form and express their own views before they enter deliberation. An AI adaptively asks each participant questions and visualizes the opinions it elicits, making differences in viewpoints and values visible even within limited time.

We operate Cartographer in real consensus-building settings in Otoineppu Village, Hokkaido. Even in small municipalities, we aim to treat every voice with care and connect it to local decision-making.

Otoineppu is one of the least populated municipalities in Hokkaido. We chose this village precisely because we want to work with the voices of ordinary residents, not only people who are already interested in technology or civic participation.

Technology that draws out what people think cannot be refined on the enthusiastic few alone; it would optimize in the wrong direction. What matters is being able to elicit deep thoughts and values, even from those whose voices are least likely to be heard and that they themselves may not have fully put into words. That is why we deliberately hone our technology in a setting like this.

Municipalities facing depopulation are also a preview of challenges that many regions and countries will eventually confront. Working with KOSO NIPPON, a Japanese policy think tank that has convened resident assemblies across the country for three decades, we layer AI on top of that accumulated practice of dialogue to make each act of consensus building in this village more reliable.

The cohort brings together teams from around the world working at the intersection of democracy and AI, spanning areas such as freedom-of-information support, government transparency, and deliberation facilitation. Within it, Plural Reality's role is to help residents form and express their views before deliberation.

For more details, please see the Mozilla Foundation's official page. Democracy x AI Cohort — Mozilla Foundation

We remain committed to opening deliberation and consensus building to more people through technology, and we appreciate your continued support.