Can AI Bridge Divides in Group Decision-Making? Complex Chaos Thinks So
AI as a Catalyst for Consensus: Complex Chaos’ Vision for Cooperation
Democracy, negotiation, and consensus-building are never easy, especially when stakes are high and opinions are polarized. While some argue technology exacerbates division, the startup Complex Chaos believes AI could actually help groups find common ground faster and more effectively.
Turning AI Into a Facilitator, Not Just a Tool
Tommy Lorsch, co-founder and CEO of Complex Chaos, had a realization: people already use AI to simplify explanations—so why not leverage it to help people understand each other and reach consensus? Together with co-founder Maya Ben Dror, they’re developing AI-driven tools to facilitate group cooperation, not just collaboration.
- Unlike collaboration platforms like Slack or Google Docs, Complex Chaos focuses on the harder problem: guiding groups towards true agreement.
- Traditionally, human facilitators help groups reach consensus—a process that is time-consuming and hard to scale, especially across time zones or large organizations.
AI in Action: From Climate Talks to Corporate Strategy
Complex Chaos recently piloted its technology with young delegates from nine African nations at a United Nations campus in Bonn, Germany. The tool, which blends Google’s consensus-focused Habermas Machine and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, helped:
- Generate discussion questions and conversation goals
- Summarize lengthy documents
- Guide blocs toward a unified stance before entering multi-national negotiations
According to Complex Chaos, the results were promising:
- Delegates reported up to a 60% reduction in coordination time
- 91% of participants said the AI tool helped them understand perspectives they would have otherwise missed
Speeding Up Strategy and Sustainability
Beyond international negotiations, the founders see potential for their tool in corporate environments. Strategic planning often takes months, with complex back-and-forth across teams and time zones. AI-facilitated cooperation could dramatically shorten this cycle, boosting efficiency for tech firms and consultancies alike.
The Bigger Picture: AI for a More Cooperative Future
While the Complex Chaos team is passionate about climate action, they believe AI-powered consensus facilitation could transform any area where group agreement is critical. "If AI can shorten these processes, simplify them, then we’d be so much better off. Not just for climate, for anything sustainability, for any big challenge that we’re facing," Ben Dror notes.
