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Short abstract:

This contribution explores the development of AI-driven renewable energy distribution systems within local energy communities. It examines the techno-political aspects of co-creation, honoring citizen involvement and addressing potential frictions through citizen science and STS approaches.

Long abstract:

The constitution of local energy communities is a crucial site to unpack the techno-political dimension of the so-called green energy transition. In this contribution, we follow the development of an automated system for the coordination and facilitation of renewable energy distribution through Artificial Intelligence (AI) proxies. Developed in a multidisciplinary research project within a so-called ‘energy community’ in Belgium, the envisioned AI system involves the community’s members as energy prosumers and AI users. Focusing on the design of these AI proxies the paper casts a light on the techno-political dimension of an energy community’s co-creation. It also honors the “Nothing about us without us” request of citizens, thus countering the tendency of building AI systems that affect people’s lives without asking the same people if that is needed at all, or how. Drawing on insights from STS approaches to the ‘sociology of testing’ (Downer, 2007; Marres & Stark, 2020; Pinch, 1993) and ‘citizen science’ (Strasser et al., 2019) we study the interface between the AI’s and the energy community’s lifeworld. We ask how citizens’ values, practices, and priorities are translated into an AI proxy system and how co-creation unfolds when it comes to integrating AI into a (energy) community. Involving citizens from the start through citizen juries and interviews, we expect to better identify 1) citizens’ guidelines and redlines against AI solutionism; 2) the divergences between what researchers and users deem important to be tested, and 3) frictions not foreseen in the research design phase of the co-creation project.