Participatory AI: A Scandinavian Approach to Human-Centered AI

Authors

Niklas Elmqvist,

Eve Hoggan,

Hans-Jorg Schulz,

Marianne Graves Petersen,

Peter Dalsgaard,

Ira Assent,

Olav W. Bertelsen,

Akhil Arora,

Kaj Gronbaek,

Susanne Bodker,

Clemens N. Klokmose,

Rachel Charlotte Smith,

Sebastian Hubenschmid,

Christoph A. Johns,

Gabriela Molina Leon,

Anton Wolter,

Johannes Ellemose,

Vaishali Dhanoa,

Simon Aagaard Enni,

Mille Skovhus Lunding,

Karl-Emil Kjaer Bilstrup,

Luke Connelly,

Rafael Pablos Sarabia,

Morten Birk,

Juan Sanchez Esquivel,

Joachim Nyborg,

Stefanie Zollmann,

Tobias Langlotz,

Meredith Siang-Yun Chou,

Jens Emil Sloth Gronbaek,

Michael Wessely,

Yijing Jiang,

Caroline Berger,

Duosi Dai,

Michael Mose Biskjaer,

German Leiva,

Jonas Frich,

Eva Eriksson,

Kim Halskov,

Thorbjorn Mikkelsen,

Nearchos Potamitis,

Michel Yildirim,

Arvind Srinivasan,

Jeanette Falk,

Nanna Inie,

Ole Sejer Iversen,

Hugo Andersson

Date

09/2025

Publisher

arXiv

Link

http://arxiv.org/pdf/2509.12752v1

AI's transformative impact on work, education, and everyday life makes it as much a political artifact as a technological one. Current AI models are opaque, centralized, and overly generic. The algorithmic automation they provide threatens human agency and democratic values in both workplaces and daily life. To confront such challenges, we turn to Scandinavian Participatory Design (PD), which was devised in the 1970s to face a similar threat from mechanical automation. In the PD tradition, technology is seen not just as an artifact, but as a locus of democracy. Drawing from this tradition, we propose Participatory AI as a PD approach to human-centered AI that applies five PD principles to four design challenges for algorithmic automation. We use concrete case studies to illustrate how to treat AI models less as proprietary products and more as shared socio-technical systems that enhance rather than diminish human agency, human dignity, and human values.

Study at a glance

Question: How can participatory design principles help create AI systems that support human agency and democratic values?
Setting and data: Not stated in the abstract
Method: Conceptual framework illustrated with case studies

Why it matters

Current AI models are opaque, centralized, and overly generic. The algorithmic automation they provide threatens human agency and democratic values across work, education, and everyday life.

Key findings

Across education, workplaces, and daily life, current AI models are opaque, centralized, and generic, threatening human agency and democratic values.
Participatory AI addresses four automation design challenges by applying five core principles from the Scandinavian participatory design tradition.
Treating AI models as shared systems rather than proprietary products helps enhance human agency, dignity, and values.

Summary drafted with AI from the paper’s abstract and may contain errors. See the full paper for details.

What is the application?

Teaching – Instructional Materials,

Teaching – Professional Learning,

Learning – Student Support

Who is the user?

Student,

Who age?