Ethics & Innovation: Civic AI, Data Soil and Digital Democracy
About this episode
The episode discusses how AI can enhance democracy and community engagement while avoiding the pitfalls of big tech.
What if AI could strengthen democracy instead of concentrating power? In this episode of Ethics and Innovation by Oxford+ brought to you by Equinox , host Susannah de Jager speaks with Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Cyber Ambassador and former Digital Minister, about civic AI, digital democracy and the practical alternatives to extractive big tech models. Audrey explains why data should be treated as soil, not oil, and how smaller, community-shaped models can serve families, cities and nations without forcing everyone into a single technological dependency. The conversation moves from Taiwan’s pandemic response to deepfake fraud, social media portability, local Kami models and the 6-Pack of Care, offering a hopeful but grounded vision for AI governance. Recent reporting on Taiwan’s anti-fraud work shows why this matters now: Audrey has said Taiwan’s civic AI approach helped reduce deepfake scams by more than 94%, as reported by MIT Solve . For policymakers, founders and citizens, this episode asks a practical question: how do we design AI systems that increase participation, transparency and trust, rather than deepening dependency, polarisation and surveillance? (00:00) - Welcome to…
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