AI and Democracy: Improving Congress through Technology 

• Congressional Reform
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Democracy has enabled the world’s greatest advances in industry, technology, economics, and many other vital fields.  But in the US, the nation’s most prominent legislative body has largely been left behind as Congress has not sufficiently evolved to meet the needs of today’s lawmaking.  Many of the inefficiencies of Congress remain rooted in an ever-expanding universe of mission-critical data generated by the legislative process that has become disparate, confusing, redundant, out of context, and politically charged. The strategic use of generative AI can help Congress catch up. 

The Sunwater Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit research institution, relies on performance data and metrics to evaluate its focus areas, identify new opportunities for innovation and collaboration, engage with its audience and community of supporters, raise funds for the organization, and automate or speed up its core administrative, service, and strategic functions.  Sunwater Institute also uses technology to modernize the processes and procedures of Congress. 

How the Sunwater Institute is Using AI 

The Sunwater Institute currently leverages generative AI to acquire large amounts of historical and real-time information about Congress and lawmaking.  AI is becoming essential to pull data from multiple sources, rapidly and accurately analyze this data, and deliver novel and insightful perspectives to key audiences, constituents, and stakeholders across the political and policy spectrum.  The speed, accuracy, and efficiency improvements give Congressional leaders an edge in decision-making. 

Going forward, the Sunwater Institute is committed to leveraging the power of generative AI to produce a new suite of key deliverables for lawmakers.  These include transcribing and summarizing Committee hearings, detecting direct and indirect mentions of legislation, and extracting monetary appropriations.  The Sunwater Institute is also developing user-facing generative AI tools to enable Congressional staff to generate work products enhanced with data available on its Legis1 platform.   

AI and the Future of Democracy 

Society is only beginning to understand how generative AI will shape the future of democracy.  By enhancing its use of generative AI across the legislative life cycle, the Sunwater Institute can provide critical leadership within this emerging field.  Championing the use of computational methods and data science to make informed legislative decisions aligns with the Sunwater Institute’s commitment to strengthening democracy through improved legislative processes. 

To learn more about Legis1, an innovative tool supporting a more effective legislative process visit the Legis1 website or send us a note.