Thinking and working together.
Launched in 2014, vTaiwan is a decentralized open consultation process that combines online and offline interactions, bringing together Taiwan's citizens and government to deliberate on national issues. It serves as a model for People-Public-Private Partnerships (PPPP), involving government ministries, elected representatives, scholars, experts, business leaders, civil society organizations, and citizens in crafting digital legislation.
One of the many tools vTaiwan utilizes is Pol.is, a digital platform for opinion collection, to facilitate large-scale conversations and consensus building. This tool has been pivotal in achieving "rough consensus" on various policy issues at the national level, addressing scalability challenges in deliberative democracy.
In 2023, vTaiwan collaborated with Chatham House and the AI Objectives Institute on the OpenAI Democratic Inputs to AI project. This collaboration aimed to explore guiding principles for AI, particularly in contexts where human rights intersect with local cultural or legal differences. The main approach employed in this project included the use of Pol.is for public deliberation and some initial attempts at integrating Large Language Models (LLMs).
In its ongoing role as a “shadow government,” vTaiwan is set to host more digital deliberative topics, particularly as regulations try to keep pace with rapid technological advancements. vTaiwan will continue to invite contributions from all societal sectors, initiating formal discussions when needs are articulated. Looking ahead to 2024, vTaiwan anticipates engaging with AI-related regulations, including the refined “Guidelines for the Executive Yuan and its Agencies on the Use of Generative AI” and the “AI Basic Law” by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC).
The platform maintains various touchpoints for engagement, including its community page, slack channel g0v, Chinese-language website vtaiwan.tw, weekly online meetings and occasional hackathons. As a dynamic, participant-driven space, vTaiwan strives to be a pioneering model in democratic consultation, leveraging technology to foster in-depth discussions on important national issues.
(Last update in Dec 2023)