Please join us for a convening on LLMs and Public Discourse co-hosted by Plurality Institute and The Council on Technology and Social Cohesion.

This invite-only event in Berkeley, CA will bring together a carefully selected group of 50 researchers, product developers and nonprofit leaders. Together, we’ll delve deeper into the new opportunities LLMs present to foster healthy dialogue and pluralism online.

Promising work has already begun - from Grammarly-like assistants to bots that can be called on to guide tense online discussions - but the possibilities have only begun to be explored.

The event will begin by showcasing current LLM projects, but will move quickly into workshop mode where participants will actively engage in mapping the landscape of potential tools, identifying promising applications and finally proposing new projects.

We will be distributing at least $50k in grants to the projects which will be voted on by participants.

Location: This event will be held in Berkeley, CA at Hillside School (1581 Le Roy Ave, Berkeley, CA 94708)

Goals & Outputs of the Event

Share knowledge on LLMs and their use in fostering healthy discourse
Map the landscape of existing and potential tools, and identify gaps
Workshop new ideas and collaborative projects
Award mini-grants to projects emerging from the convening

A public report mapping current and potential LLM tools

A Brief Agenda

Day 1: Evening Panel & Event Welcome

Invited panelists will showcase examples of existing uses of LLMs that foster dialogue and pluralism to inspire participants to what's possible. We will then set the framework for the following day, inviting participants to imagine new uses of LLMs.

Speakers:

David Patterson (UC Berkeley)
Beth Goldberg (Google.org)
Aleksei Loginov (Google.org)
Adnan Jaber and Andrew Konya (Remesh)
Rose Bloomin and Jeff Fossett (Plurality Institute)
Lisa Schirch and Kristina Radivojevic (Notre Dame University)
Julia Kamin (Prosocial Design Network)

Day 2: Workshop & Showcase

Morning workshop to share knowledge of existing work and map the landscape of existing and potential uses of LLMs to foster dialogue
Midday exercises to generate new and exciting uses of LLMs and converge around a number of promising new projects
Early afternoon working groups to develop those emerging ideas into potential collaborative projects
Late afternoon / early evening showcase of workshopped projects

About the organizers

Plurality Institute

Plurality Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to fostering human cooperation and progress. We serve as a hub for academics, industry researchers, practitioners, and leaders from both civil and governmental sectors, all of whom are pushing boundaries to reimagine collaborative frameworks.

More at Plurality.Institute

The Council on Technology and Social Cohesion

The Council on Tech and Social Cohesion is catalyzing the field of technology for social cohesion. A ‘catalyzed’ field will be one in which tech for social cohesion products, programs, and policies are desirable, affordable, and actionable.

More at techandsocialcohesion.org

Sponsors

This event is being organized with support from Google.org and Jigsaw.

LLMs & Public Discourse: Convening & Workshop