Introducing AI-Enhanced Democracy: Context, Challenges, and Research Framework

This chapter serves as the introduction to this study on AI and democracy. It introduces the central themes and motivations of this book, examining the opportunities and challenges AI presents for democratic processes—ranging from civic participation and public deliberation to policy-making and institutional trust. Emphasizing methodological approaches such as research-through-design and triangulation of theoretical and empirical knowledge, this chapter outlines the structure of the book and its aim to bridge theory and real-world experimentation. The chapter situates the work within a broader European research ecosystem, grounded in the contributions of four Horizon Europe projects (ORBIS, AI4GOV, ITHACA, and KT4D), and reflects on how these initiatives collectively inform a practice-based, interdisciplinary investigation of AI-enhanced democracy.