Participation and the Troubles with Intelligence

Drawing on submissions to the PDC 2026 Conversation "Post-anthropocentrism and Participation: AI", this position paper examines how participatory design can rethink all forms of AI in more-than-human terms to support new ways of living together amid shifting cultural, environmental, and technical conditions. To aid this, we propose an expanded account of intelligence as plural, situated, and ecological, informed by evolutionary biology, niche construction theory, and more-than-human scholarship. We then identify five "troubles"that this relational view of intelligence raises for participation: contested worldviews, uncertainty about what matters to others, the material costs of participation, uneven power relations, and the challenge of coordinating practical action across differences. For each of these, we outline conceptual tools and practical commitments. Examining eight conference papers through this lens, we find a field in transition: moving toward ecological agency yet often retaining narrow technical framings. We conclude by calling for deeper engagement with nonhuman knowledge systems, scientific research beyond HCI, and reflexive governance.