The Democracy Innovators Podcast is an independent publication launched in February 2025 by Alessandro Oppo and Carlo Michaelis.
Society is complex, and technology is evolving rapidly. Today, we use technology extensively in governance, and in the future, it will become even more pervasive in the political sphere. This podcast provides a space to discuss these changes, explore possibilities, and ultimately shape the future together.
Our mission is to share insider stories about civic tech by interviewing those working on new forms of participation. We aim to highlight and add value to the incredible projects created by civic hackers.
www.democracyinnovators.com (https://democracyinnovators.com)
Paul Nemitz on AI’s threat to democracy, Big Tech power & decentralization
Paul Nemitz examines how concentrated control over data, infrastructure and AI can weaken democratic life, and argues that these technologies are not politically neutral. Drawing on his experience with the GDPR and other EU digital legislation, he discusses regulatory enforcement, the limits of treating code as law, and the importance of human judgment. The conversation concludes with a case for decentralizing AI and involving technologists directly in democratic institutions and debate.
If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.
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22 Sept 2026
Thomas Lorenz on Brief nach Berlin, lowering barriers to participation & open-source civic tech
Thomas Lorenz discusses Brief nach Berlin, an open-source, AI-assisted tool that helps citizens identify the appropriate political representative, draft a letter about a local concern and then copy it by hand. The conversation uses this practical project to examine how civic technology can lower barriers to participation while preserving meaningful human action. It also considers AI’s risks for privacy, dependence and social isolation, as well as its potential to make public administration more responsive and democratic collaboration easier.
If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/7KCR9XBSCQVMG (https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/7KCR9XBSCQVMG)
15 Sept 2026
Terry Bouricius on multi-body sortition and redesigning democratic lawmaking
Terry Bouricius is a former Vermont lawmaker who has spent decades working on democracy reform, now focused on sortition — the use of random selection to form representative citizens’ bodies. His experience as both a politician and reformer led him to question whether elections are actually democratic. In this episode, he explains why he sees elected legislatures as inherently oligarchic, drawing on citizens’ assemblies, ancient Athens, and experiments in Ireland and elsewhere. We discuss how randomly selected bodies could make laws, how technology and AI might support deliberation, why advisory assemblies need real consequences, and why politicians may have little incentive to pursue consensus. Bouricius also outlines his vision for a multi-body democracy beyond elections.
If you enjoy our podcast, please consider making a donation. It really helps us to sustain the podcast.
PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/7KCR9XBSCQVMG (https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/7KCR9XBSCQVMG)
Who has been a guest on Democracy Innovators Podcast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Simone Maria Parazzoli
Marco Cappato
Francesco Vecchi
Vir Sanghavi
Bruce Schneier
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
1,447
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
76
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
0
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Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
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