Democracy Levels

Democracy Levels Framework

A shared language for democratic AI

The Democracy Levels Framework was developed to help AI organizations, regulators, and stakeholders integrate meaningful democratic processes into AI governance and alignment. It provides concrete language and practical tools for determining when and how to devolve decision-making power.

Overview

The framework defines six levels of democratic decision-making, from L0 (fully unilateral) to L5 (full democratic governance).

Each level describes who has decision-making power and how decisions are made.

L0
 Unilateral decisions
No democratic aspects
L1
 Informing decisions
Decision-maker consults democratic outputs
L2
 Specifying options
Outputs are directly adoptable (also vetoable)
L3
 Binding decisions
Not vetoable
L4
 Automatic initiation
Triggered or on a regular cadence
L5
 Metagovernance
Adaptive with checks and balances
See full levels diagram → Read the paper →

Like the driving autonomy levels, it provides clear distinctions about who has decision-making power, and higher is not necessarily better. Organizations can also operate at different levels for different decision domains. For example, an organization might use L2 processes to inform content policy while keeping model architecture decisions at L0.

The framework also provides detailed dimensions for assessing whether a democratic system is “good enough” for its intended level.

Who is the Democracy Levels Framework for?

For AI Organizations, Regulators, & Policymakers

  • Clear language to describe and communicate governance choices
  • Evaluation tools to assess whether democratic systems are robust enough for their intended use
  • Structures for thinking through about the tradeoffs of different levels of democratic control

For Civil Society & Researchers

  • Common vocabulary to advocate for meaningful public involvement
  • Evaluation criteria to assess whether organizations meet democratic standards
  • Gap identification to focus efforts where democratic infrastructure is needed

Tools & Resources

Levels Decision Tool

Explore considerations for choosing what level of democratic governance to target

Use the tool →

Democratic System Card

Evaluate whether a democratic system is ready for higher levels of power

Use the tool →

Connect

To stay updated, contribute to the framework, provide feedback, or if you are interested in applying the framework, get in touch.

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