AI Systems, Democratic Participation, and Social Work Research: Strategic Foresight for Defending and Advancing the Common Good

Social work’s commitments to advancing rigorous scientific inquiry in service of democracy and the common good are increasingly challenged by the diffusion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. AI is used across governmental, public-sector, and human service organizations and institutions, increasingly influencing who gets services, how resources are allocated, how risk is assessed, and how programs are evaluated. Simultaneously, technology firms exert growing influence over regulatory and political environments (Stanger, 2025). If social work research is to operate in service of democracy, the field must critically examine how AI systems – and the political economy of technology - are reshaping democratic participation, and develop methodological and ethical frameworks capable of responding to these transformations (Sumskiene et al, 2026). Addressing these challenges requires approaches such as foresight techniques, which enable social work researchers to systematically examine emerging possibilities and prepare for the complex impacts of AI on democratic systems.

Drawing from Nissen’s (2025) framework of anticipatory social work, this workshop uses strategic foresight and scenario exercises to explore plausible near-future contexts in which AI systems have significantly altered civic life and public service delivery (Young et al, 2025). Strategic foresight, an approach widely used in public policy and governance but underutilized in social work research, advances methodological innovation while reinforcing the discipline’s democratic commitments (Nissen, 2025; Iden et al, 2017). Scenario exercises enable participants to explore uncertain futures and guide long-term thinking and action by establishing a disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1997).

The session will open with a scenario set 10-years in the future depicting AI-mediated eligibility determinations, automated case management, algorithmically targeted political messaging, ‘rogue’ AI agents, and the erosion of public trust in shared information systems. We will invite participants to consider how tensions between innovation and accountability, efficiency and equity, and corporate technological power and democratic governance could lead to this proposed scenario, and how strengthening democratic resilience today could result in a different future scenario.

Guided discussion will center on five questions:

1. How can social work research rigorously investigate AI-driven governance systems and their implications for racial equity and democratic participation?
2. What methodological innovations and choices are needed to study opaque, rapidly evolving algorithmic infrastructures?
3. How should ethical frameworks in social work research evolve in response to data extraction, surveillance, and automated decision-making?
4. In what ways can social work scholars influence policy and institutional design to ensure AI systems operate in service of the common good rather than exacerbate inequality?
5. What strategic alliances can social workers form today to advance their desired futures?

The workshop authors include a diverse group of scholars who address racial and digital inequality, community-engaged research, policy analysis, and social work education preparing future practitioners for AI-mediated practice environments.

The session will conclude with a synthesis of actionable research and educational strategies that participants can implement within their institutions and communities, strengthening the field’s collective capacity to promote equity, accountability, and democracy.