Welcome to The Newsfeed.

Traditional political processes often favor some voices over others, but Snohomish County is trying something different.

For three weekends this spring, a group of 29 citizens were tasked with writing an artificial intelligence policy for the county.

Cascade PBS and KNKX reporter Nate Sanford explains.

-We define things here in this report and not how things are defined outside of that.

-Can you explain a little bit?

-A citizens' assembly is a bit like jury duty, but for public policy.

They're more common in Canada and parts of Europe, but still rare in the United States.

The goal is to create policies that more directly represent what the community wants.

-I was really excited about the idea of a process that reminds people who aren't politicians, that their opinions matter.

Mackey Guenther was one of eight facilitators who helped guide conversations at the Snohomish County AI Citizens' Assembly.

He used to work for the city of Edmonds, collecting public feedback on housing policy.

He says that type of traditional political participation tends to self-select for people who are already engaged with local governments, and that some voices get left out.

-My understanding was that some of the people in this room had never really been involved in a public process before.

-The participants were selected to be demographically representative, and were paid $500 each.

-Over the course of three weekends, people still have, you know, struggled through difficult conversations and run into disagreements, but also see a little bit of themselves in other people.

-Nate Sanford, Cascade PBS.

-Next time, we'll hear from the participants who work to provide recommendations on the county's new AI policy.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thanks for watching The Newsfeed.