{"links":{"self":"http://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/API/grants/DE260101631"},"data":{"type":"grant-details","id":"DE260101631","attributes":{"code":"DE260101631","administering-organisation":"University of Canberra","announcement-administering-organisation":"University of Canberra","scheme-name":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","grant-status":"Active","funding-commencement-year":2026,"years-funded":3,"project-start-date":"2026-01-01","anticipated-end-date":"2028-12-31","grant-summary":"Smart Democracy: Fostering Democratic Agency in the Age of AI. With bots spreading disinformation and acting as facilitators in deliberative forums, artificial intelligence (AI) is currently becoming an active participant in democracy. This project investigates how humans experience and relate to AI in democratic participation. It aims to foster democratic agency by enhancing emotional intelligence and critical reflection. Through ethnography and participatory action research, the project will generate a novel theory of democratic agency in the age of AI rooted in lived experience of human-AI interaction. Its findings will inform the first civic guide on AI and democracy, providing foundational knowledge on AI, and equipping citizens with skills to critically assess AI and its role in democratic life.","funding-current":517945.00,"funding-at-announcement":513851,"investigators-current":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Hans","familyName":"Asenbaum","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0001-9780-9735 "}],"investigators-at-announcement":[{"title":"Dr","firstName":"Hans","familyName":"Asenbaum","roleName":"Discovery Early Career Researcher Award","roleCode":"DECRA","isFellowship":true,"orcidIdentifier":"0000-0001-9780-9735 "}],"organisations-current":[{"organisationName":"University of Canberra","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"ACT"}],"organisations-at-announcement":[{"organisationName":"University of Canberra","roleName":"Administering Organisation","state":"ACT"}],"field-of-research":[{"isPrimary":true,"code":"4408","name":"Political Science","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"440802","name":"Citizenship","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"440811","name":"Political Theory and Political Philosophy","type":"FOR20"},{"isPrimary":false,"code":"441007","name":"Sociology and Social Studies of Science and Technology","type":"FOR20"}],"socio-economic-objective":[{"code":"130305","name":"Technological Ethics","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"220403","name":"Artificial Intelligence","type":"SEO20"},{"code":"230201","name":"Civics and Citizenship","type":"SEO20"}],"international-collaboration":["United States of America"],"lief-register":[],"achievement-summary":null,"national-interest-test-statement":"Artificial intelligence (AI) presents opportunities but also grave risks for Australian democracy. It is used to spread mis- and disinformation, deepfakes and for the foreign interference in elections through social media bots, decreasing public trust in Australian political institutions and the media. Restoring public trust is crucial for a healthy democracy. The project Smart Democracy is designed to enhance Australians’ capacity to understand and productively employ AI in democracy. It responds to the issues raised in recent report by the Australian Parliament on Civic Education and Political Participation in Australia, which points to the urgency of disseminating knowledge on AI: “Voters need the skills to judge the reliability of information when faced with misinformation and disinformation, artificial intelligence, social media and algorithms” (p. IV). The project will tackle this problem by generating the first civic guide to AI and democracy. This guide will provide a digital interactive platform introducing Australians to AI hardware, algorithms, basic coding skills, AI use for democratic participation, detecting disinformation and deepfakes, and building productive AI-human relationships. These insights  will be derived from comprehensive empirical research conducted in collaboration with leading AI labs, yielding much needed knowledge about how humans experience and emotionally relate to AI in the context of democratic participation."}}}