The Civic
Toolkit
Digital Literacy in the Era of AI
At this critical moment, civic engagement feels increasingly fragile. Yet it remains one of our most powerful tools for collective progress, strengthening democratic culture, enabling shared problem-solving and accountability, and even a source of hope. An urgent conversation is needed around democratic renewal – and artificial intelligence’s place at the very heart of this moment.
While AI can deepen polarisation and entrench bias, it can also expand participation, strengthen transparency and reconnect citizens with decision-making. The question is not whether technology will shape our democratic future - but how. That’s why citizens need a blueprint to play an active role.
Building a Citizens' Toolkit: Digital Literacy in the Era of AI is a non-partisan initiative designed to strengthen the discussion around democratic culture through structured learning spaces that explore civic innovation, digital resilience and the responsible role for AI in public life.
At our first convening on 17 April, we will bring together citizens, educators, technologists, community leaders and policymakers to examine how innovation can serve democratic values – and reimagine the public square for the digital age.
What To Expect
Start the day by learning from leading voices on the challenges facing democracy in the modern technological age, before stepping into interactive sessions designed for reflection and problem-solving. Participants will build digital literacy, critical insight and gain practical tools to confidently navigate today’s information landscape.
Agenda
Welcome and Opening
Introductions and context-setting
AI & the Public Square: Navigating Truth, Trust & Technology
We name what is at stake, setting the emotional and intellectual stakes for our day together and beyond.
Networking Lunch
The Agora
Through a mix of keynote and panel sessions, we will consider how AI could be pivotal in helping to reclaim democracy, and what’s next for our relationship with tech.
The Democracy Lab
Attendees will join small groups and work together to explore a key issue, bringing their recommendations and takeaways back to the main room.
Return to the Agora
Joining together at the end of the day, attendees will have an opportunity to share their thoughts and reflect on the steps that are needed to shore up democracy in the era of AI – both in their communities and beyond.
Speakers
Alex Forrest Whiting
Alex Forrest Whiting is a British journalist based in Berlin, where she has worked for Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, since 2018. She hosts DW's breaking news livestreams - covering major international stories across TV, YouTube and TikTok - and serves as a senior editor across the network's digital platforms. She’s DW’s go-to person for British politics and current affairs. Alex also trains journalists in digital writing, editing and presentation.
Alex began her career at the BBC before becoming Presenter and Political Correspondent for ITV News based in Westminster. She reported live from Parliament and Downing Street on elections, budgets, leadership contests and Prime Minister's Questions. She also interviewed senior politicians including serving Prime Ministers.
Before Berlin, Alex reported from Copenhagen for BBC World and Al Jazeera English.
Alongside her work at DW, Alex moderates high-profile public events in London and Berlin.
Dimitris Dimitriadis
Dimitris Dimitriadis is a futurist, AI entrepreneur, and strategic foresight adviser to the Greek Government who has spent his career asking one question: what does it mean to build technology that genuinely serves humanity? Co-founder of TheFutureCats and author of "2049 – Instructions for the Futures of Humanity," he has spoken in 74 countries and advised Fortune 500 companies and institutions ranging from the European Commission to the U.S. Department of State. For the past twelve years, he has been quietly training a personal AI model to advise his niece when he is no longer around; a reminder that the most powerful use of technology is not disruption, but the transmission of wisdom across generations.
Niclas Böhmer
Niclas Böhmer is an Assistant Professor for Algorithmic Decision Making and Society at the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), University of Potsdam. His research explores how algorithms can help groups make provably fair and transparent decisions. More broadly, he works at the intersection of AI, democracy, and economics, focusing on how algorithmic tools can help society make better collective choices. Before joining the HPI, Niclas was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, where he worked on AI for Social Good, and he received his PhD in theoretical computer science from TU Berlin.
Olivia Lazard
Olivia Lazard is a strategic consultant, researcher, and public speaker focused on the intersections between international and planetary security. Her work anticipates the geopolitical, economic, and ecological risks driven by planetary transformations such as climate change. She advises governments, international organizations, and private sector actors on managing transition risks related to energy systems, technological disruption, and ecological collapse. Her research also contributes to shaping public debate and governance on emerging planetary technologies, including geoengineering.
Olivia began her career in conflict zones across Africa and the Middle East, working for the UN, donor governments, and business actors as a conflict analyst, stabilization advisor, and mediator. There, she witnessed firsthand how ecological degradation, nature-based conflict, illicit economies, and geostrategic competition over critical minerals, water, and soil were converging—reshaping both the planet and international systems. As she emphasized in her 2022 TED Talk, this convergence is accelerating faster than existing peace and security frameworks can adapt.
Today, Olivia works at the nexus of fieldwork, systems research, and policy design. She collaborates with scientists and policymakers to protect and regenerate ecosystems amid rising transition risks, and pilots regeneration-based mediation approaches in climate-vulnerable regions to help communities and governments reimagine water, food, and energy futures.
As a Planetary Fellow at the Berggruen Institute, Olivia is writing a book on the drivers of human and planetary insecurity in the age of the techno-industrial revolution. She is also founding Transition Intelligence, a European institute dedicated to guiding planetary transitions through policy, technological, economic, and mediation innovation labs.
Olivia holds a BA from McGill University, an MA from Sciences Po Paris, and an MSC from the London School of Economics. Most recently, she was a senior fellow with Carnegie Europe, advancing research on the geopolitics of climate change and transition risks. She is based in Europe, and speaks French, English, Spanish and Italian.
Friday 17 April 2026, 11:00-17:00, Wasserturm, EUREF-Campus 18, 10829 Berlin, Germany
Attendance is free. Registration required.
Event Hosts
The Conduit Foundation is a charity that catalyses collaborative solutions to the world’s most complex challenges by widening participation in problem-solving, channelling funding toward high-impact initiatives and enabling cross-sector dialogue. It works in close partnership with The Conduit, a global community of changemakers committed to creating a just and sustainable future.