explore · Empathy, Decision Making · 30–60 min · 6-25 people · medium energy
AI Empty Chair
During a deliberation, an AI listens to a transcript of the conversation and, when asked, speaks for stakeholders who are affected by the decision but are not in the room. The facilitator reads out or shows the perspective, and the group discusses what it changes. The AI's voice is clearly labelled as a simulation that prompts thinking, not as a substitute for the people themselves.
When to use AI Empty Chair
Use in policy, strategy or community deliberations where important stakeholders are missing and the group risks deciding only from its own point of view.
What it solves
Groups decide things that affect people who were never in the room, and nobody notices whose view is absent.
How to run AI Empty Chair, step by step
- Explain the tool and its limits: it can spark new angles, it cannot speak for real people (5 min).
- Start the discussion while the transcript or running notes feed the AI (10-15 min).
- Pause and ask the AI which affected stakeholders are missing and how they might see the issue (3 min).
- Share one or two of those perspectives with the group and discuss what they change (10-15 min).
- Repeat once later in the discussion if useful (10 min).
- Close by listing which missing groups need to be consulted for real, and how (5-10 min).
Materials needed
- Live transcription or a fast note-taker
- AI chat tool
- Shared screen
- Flipchart for the missing-voices list
Facilitator tips
- Frame the output as a question to the room, not an answer: "Could someone in this position see it like this?"
- Invite people with lived experience in the room to correct the AI where it is off.
- Use the final step seriously. The tool's best use is to show who you still need to talk to.
Common pitfalls
- The group treats the AI persona as if those stakeholders had been consulted.
- The AI produces stereotyped views of marginalised groups. Read outputs before sharing them.
Variations
- Without live transcription: brief the AI with the decision and the list of who is in the room, and ask it to name and voice who is missing.
Running it online or hybrid
Needs live transcription of the discussion (or a note-taker typing a running summary) feeding an AI chat that is shown on a shared screen. In hybrid rooms, make sure remote voices are captured in the transcript too.
What it produces
A list of the missing perspectives raised, the group's response to each, and a note of which ones need real consultation.
Origin
Developed by Suyash Fulay, Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou and Deb Roy at MIT and tested in a student citizens' assembly; published as The Empty Chair: Using LLMs to Raise Missing Perspectives in Policy Deliberations (2025). — source
Build a session around AI Empty Chair
METODIC places AI Empty Chair inside a complete, timed session plan — agenda, worksheets, facilitator guide and slides — matched to your group and goal.