What challenges does artificial intelligence (AI) pose for democracy? The current EPTA report, which was presented by this year's chair, the Norwegian Board of Technology (NBT), at the annual EPTA conference in Oslo on 21 October 2024, examines the impact of AI on elections and public discourse, the use of AI in parliaments and the public sector, and the possibilities for democratic control and governance of AI.

The report contains contributions reflecting the experiences of 19 countries, with the ITA being Austria's EPTA member.

Austria reports on current developments in government and administration

Governments are increasingly adapting AI models developed by companies such as Meta, Google and Microsoft to their own needs. At present, the technical possibilities for doing so are still limited. Ministries and administrative bodies are therefore receiving customised versions of chatbots like ChatGPT.

For example, the ITA reports on the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research, which has signed a contract with Microsoft for the use of its cloud computing platform Azure with customised access to OpenAI's ChatGPT application. The intention is even to use it to create questions used in mathematics school leaving exams. The study ‘Generative AI and Democracy’, which the Austrian Parliament has commissioned from the ITA and which is still ongoing, is also mentioned.

Partial translation available in German

As a special service for the German-speaking technology assessment community, the public and members of parliament, TAB, the technology assessment unit at the German parliament, is providing both the German country report and the summary for political decision-makers in German translation.