Second World Summit of the Committees of the Future

The Parliament of Uruguay, in collaboration with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), will host the Second World Summit of the Committees of the Future in Montevideo, Uruguay, from 25 to 27 September 2023. The Summit aims to build upon the first World Summit held in Helsinki in October 2022, which recognized the fundamental importance of incorporating the future in present decision-making.

The Summit is open to all parliaments, both those that have specific structures dealing with the future and those that are keen to learn from and engage in such an approach.

The Summit will place emphasis on the critical role of parliaments and anticipatory parliamentary practice in governance. It will foster collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and the development of new skills and competencies related to the “use of the future” in the present for more accurate decision-making.

The focus of the Second Summit, Bringing the Future to the Present: The Democracy of the Future, Artificial Intelligence and Parliaments, is on exploring the interaction between present-day parliaments, the future of democracy and artificial intelligence (AI).

AI comes in many guises. One aspect relates to the challenges posed to regulation. Another is the potential for AI to be incorporated into the tasks of parliament, to enhance its efficiency, improve decision-making processes and enable innovation. Concerns remain around a range of issues including transparency, disinformation, and manipulation and privacy. Considering these complexities, parliaments will be invited to hold in-depth and nuanced discussions on AI and other technologies, as well as their impact on society and link to democracy.

The goal will be to explore new ways of approaching the challenges posed to democracy by AI and other emerging technologies, and identify new possibilities for the transformative potential of these technologies while upholding and protecting the principles of democracy.

By focusing on these issues, the Summit will also provide an opportunity to delve deeper into the needs and required changes in parliaments to better anticipate the future and integrate it into their everyday work.