Meet the Women Shaping Responsible AI - Connecting Citizens and Democracy: Alicia Combaz's Mission to Reclaim AI for Democratic Empowerment
Alicia Combaz from Make.org discusses how winning the 2024/25 She Shapes AI Global AI and Democray Award catalyzed her organization's work in leveraging AI to strengthen democracies, bridge the gap between citizens and institutions, and build ethical AI solutions for democratic participation.
In an era where democracies face unprecedented challenges and AI's potential for both empowerment and harm becomes increasingly apparent, Alicia Combaz stands at a critical intersection. As a leader at Make.org, she's dedicated to what she describes as "the only path to reclaim AI for democracy", ensuring technology truly empowers citizens rather than undermining democratic participation.
Her recognition as a She Shapes AI Global Award winner came at what she calls "a very critical time" for her work, her organization, and the broader conversation around responsible AI and democratic governance. The award didn't just acknowledge individual achievement; it validated a mission that has become increasingly urgent as democracies worldwide grapple with technological disruption.
The Power of Community Recognition
For Alicia, the She Shapes AI Global Award represented far more than personal achievement. "It was really a powerful affirmation of the countless hours of work and also the belief in the mission behind this work," she reflects. The recognition proved particularly meaningful because it wasn't just individual validation, it was a team celebration. This collective recognition matters deeply for an organization working on what she describes as one of today's most daunting challenges: strengthening democracies that are "really in danger."
The award's timing proved crucial for maintaining momentum in demanding work. "We are facing so many challenges that we need these kinds of moments – moments of recognition and celebration," she explains. For teams working on democracy and AI ethics, such recognition provides essential motivation to continue tackling enormous, complex problems.
Perhaps most importantly, the award connected Alicia to a broader community of practitioners. "What we are facing right now in my field – protecting democracies – there is only one path to reclaim AI for democracy and make sure we can build a future where technology really empowers citizens, and this path is to work together," she notes. "I strongly believe in these kinds of communities."
Three Strategic Pillars: Product, Research, and Coalition Building
The year following her award recognition has been marked by intense activity across three strategic areas that demonstrate Make.org's comprehensive approach to democratic AI innovation.
Product Development: Making Democracy Accessible
The first pillar focuses on product development, specifically creating platforms that engage citizens in meaningful collective conversations. Central to this effort is Panoramic, a generative AI product designed to make complex content accessible to broad audiences.
"The objective is to make complex content accessible to a broad public, and thanks to Gen AI, you can make it happen," Alicia explains. The platform takes highly technical content, such as parliamentary reports, assembly work, and complex governmental discussions, and transforms it into accessible formats that ordinary citizens can understand and engage with.
Make.org has deployed this approach more than ten times over the past year, creating what Alicia describes as connections between "mini publics", specialized groups like parliamentarians working on specific issues, and "maxi publics" – the broader citizenry affected by those decisions.
The applications extend beyond government transparency. Make.org has also developed platforms for healthcare, helping cancer patients and their caregivers navigate complex medical information that is typically scattered across multiple sources and written in technical language. "If you want a place where you have all information really easily accessible, we've created displays for them," Alicia notes.
This work addresses a fundamental democratic challenge: the gap between institutional work and citizen understanding. By leveraging AI to bridge this divide, Make.org is creating new possibilities for meaningful democratic participation.
Research: The Democratic Commons Programme
The second strategic pillar involves Make.org's research initiative, the Democratic Commons programme, which aims to develop and deploy open-source, ethical generative AI solutions specifically designed to strengthen democracy.
"We observed that there are a lot of bias elements, so we gathered social scientists and researchers," Alicia explains. The programme brings together interdisciplinary teams for intensive collaboration, "putting them in a room for two years" to work on frameworks and solutions that counter bias in AI systems.
The research team has grown to fifty people and established a Scientific Advisory Board that includes prominent figures in AI ethics and democratic governance. "The first papers, reports, and findings were published," Alicia notes, indicating the programme's movement from research to practical application.
Critically, this research isn't intended to remain academic. "We are making sure that the research is going to be applied very quickly in the real world, thanks to our platforms," she emphasizes. This integration of research and practical implementation ensures that ethical AI principles translate into tangible democratic tools.
Coalition Building: The Worldwide Alliance on AI and Democracy
The third strategic focus involves building broader coalitions around AI and democracy – work that exemplifies Alicia's belief that these challenges require collective action.
When the AI Action Summit took place in Paris, Alicia and her team noticed a critical gap. "There was no panel, no discussion around AI and democracy. We need to have a dedicated event," she recalls. Despite not being event organizers, they stepped in to create what became a significant gathering.
"We organized a welcoming event on AI and democracy, gathered 1000 people in the room, and we really felt that this discussion about AI and democracy was key," Alicia explains. The success of this event led to the launch of the Worldwide Alliance on AI and Democracy, which now includes the She Shapes AI community among its members.
This coalition-building work reflects Alicia's conviction that the challenges facing democracy require coordinated responses. "The challenges we are facing in this field are enormous, so we need to work together," she notes. The Alliance creates opportunities for connecting different initiatives and ensuring that efforts to democratize AI are coordinated rather than fragmented.
The Urgency of Democratic AI
Throughout her work, Alicia emphasizes the urgency of addressing AI's impact on democratic governance. "Democracies right now are really in danger," she observes, and this danger is compounded by AI systems that can either strengthen or undermine democratic participation.
Her concern extends beyond theoretical risks to practical realities. "There are a lot of people using AI not for good reasons, but for bad reasons," she notes. This misuse of AI technology threatens democratic institutions and processes, making communities like She Shapes AI "really important" for coordinating ethical responses.
The speed of change in AI development adds another layer of urgency. "Everything is going so fast right now," Alicia reflects. This rapid pace makes it challenging for democratic institutions and civil society organizations to keep up, let alone shape AI development in democratic directions.
Practical Advice for AI Leaders in Democracy
For leaders interested in using AI to address real-world democratic challenges, Alicia offers concrete guidance based on her experience at Make.org.
Focus on Problems, Not Technology: "The first thing is to focus on the problem and not the technology," she emphasizes. "Make sure to define the real-world problem and then assess in which extent AI can be a genuinely unique and superior solution."
This problem-first approach prevents the common trap of looking for applications for impressive technology rather than using technology to solve genuine democratic challenges.
Prepare for Responsible Implementation: "You have to be prepared about responsible AI because first it's not a post-deployment check, so you have to think about it really early and from the beginning," Alicia advises.
Responsible AI implementation requires resources and strategic commitment. "It's so easy to deploy AI without thinking about ethics, thinking about being responsible," she notes. "But if you want to prioritize it, you have to be prepared. It's not just a vibe – you have to really put it into your strategy."
While this approach requires more resources initially, Alicia emphasizes its long-term value: "It requires resources in the short term, you will have the feeling that it takes maybe too many resources, but believe me, it's a strategic imperative. In the mid-term and long-term you will see the positive impact."
Invest in Team Development: "Everything is changing so quickly. You need to make sure that your team is capable of understanding what is happening," Alicia explains.
This requires creating dedicated spaces for learning and experimentation. "You will have to create spaces where your team – data scientists, data engineers, product managers, communication managers – have the time to follow what is happening."
Practical approaches include hackathons and intensive collaborative periods: "Hackathons work really well to have this time of three days working together and discovering and going deep into the technology."
Embrace Creative Problem-Solving: The rapid pace of AI development requires new approaches to team management and skill development. "You will have to invent ways of working in a very fast-moving world," Alicia notes.
While this presents challenges – "sometimes it's overwhelming because it's really moving fast" – it also creates opportunities for innovation and intense engagement: "If you want to live with intensity, it's the good journey."
The Path Forward
Alicia's work at Make.org represents a comprehensive approach to one of our time's most critical challenges: ensuring that AI development strengthens rather than undermines democratic governance. Through product development, research, and coalition building, her organization demonstrates how ethical AI principles can translate into practical tools for democratic participation.
As societies everywhere try to navigate the impact of AI, Alicia’s approach offers a hopeful model: focus on the real problems, think responsibly from the start, and work together. Her philosophy is simple but powerful – democracy can’t be protected by technology alone; it needs people and collaboration behind it.
Winning the She Shapes AI Global Award gave her work new energy and visibility. It connected her with others who share the same goals and turned individual recognition into collective momentum.
Today, through Make.org’s projects and the growing network around her, Alicia is showing what it looks like to reclaim technology for democracy – not by chasing innovation for its own sake, but by putting citizens, ethics, and shared purpose at the center.
Her journey from award recognition to global coalition-building is a reminder that change often starts with a few people who decide to act together – and that the future of democracy depends on how we choose to shape the technologies that shape us.
Alicia Combaz was a winner of the 2024/25 She Shapes AI Global Awards in AI and Democracy. Learn more about Make.org's work in democratic innovation and the Democratic Commons research programme at Make.org.
