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Audrey Tang – Right Livelihood Award Laureate Profile
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Relevant to AI governance discussions as Tang's participatory digital democracy work in Taiwan is frequently cited as a model for inclusive public deliberation on technology policy and AI oversight.
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Summary
Profile of Audrey Tang, Taiwan's Digital Minister and civic tech pioneer, recognized by the Right Livelihood Award for innovative approaches to digital democracy and participatory governance. Tang developed tools like vTaiwan and Polis to enable large-scale public deliberation and consensus-building, demonstrating how technology can enhance rather than undermine democratic participation. Their work is widely cited as a model for transparent, inclusive digital governance.
Key Points
- •Audrey Tang served as Taiwan's Minister of Digital Affairs, pioneering 'radical transparency' in government through open data and participatory platforms.
- •Developed or championed tools like vTaiwan and Polis to facilitate large-scale civic deliberation and reduce political polarization.
- •Demonstrates a practical model of collective intelligence in governance, relevant to AI oversight and democratic accountability for emerging technologies.
- •Recognized by Right Livelihood Award for contributions to digital democracy and inclusive, collaborative policymaking.
- •Tang's approach offers lessons for AI governance: how to structure public participation in high-stakes technical decisions.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| AI-Assisted Deliberation | Approach | 63.0 |
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##### Audrey Tang
#### Audrey Tang
Taiwan
Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
Date of Birth: April 18, 1981
Education: Taiwan
X: [@audreyt](https://x.com/audreyt)
Instagram: [@digitalminister.one](https://www.instagram.com/digitalminister.one/?hl=en)
Facebook: [@audreyt](https://www.facebook.com/cyberambassador.tw/)
Contact us for interview requests and further information.
[photos and videos](https://rightlivelihood.resourcespace.com/?c=1943&k=90ab414e9a)
[Democracy](https://rightlivelihood.org/topic/democracy/)
Awarded
[2025](https://rightlivelihood.org/the-year/2025/)
# Audrey Tang
“For advancing the social use of digital technology to empower citizens, renew democracy and heal divides.”
Audrey Tang is a civic hacker and technologist who rewires systems for the public good. As Taiwan’s cyber ambassador and first digital minister, she showed how technology could deepen trust, giving millions a direct role in shaping policy. Having proven these systems in Taiwan, Tang now shares this playbook worldwide, using openness and co-creation to fight polarisation and renew democracy.
Emerging from Taiwan’s open-source movement, Tang and the g0v community — a leaderless civic-tech collective building tools for government transparency — reimagined government as collaborative. This helped shape the 2014 Sunflower Movement, which connected citizens and lawmakers in real time. From this grew vTaiwan, a participatory platform mapping agreement across diverse opinions. As digital minister, she declared broadband a human right, launched the pandemic-era “Mask Map,” and mobilised hackathons to counter disinformation and deepfakes.
Tang works with governments, civic groups and tech platforms to turn conflict into the fuel of collaboration and give people everywhere the power to shape their shared future. Across Asia, Europe and the United States, her methods are being adapted to local needs. She also pioneers civic-minded approaches to AI, from Oxford’s Institute for Ethics in AI to safety collaborations with global platforms.
_“The superintelligence we are looking for is already here. It’s us,”_ she says.
## When we see the internet of things, let’s make it the internet of beings … When we see machine learning, let’s make it collaborative learning … Whenever we hear _the singularity is near_, let’s remember the plurality is here.
Audrey Tang
## Biography
From civic hacker to Taiwan’s cyber ambassador and first digital minister, Tang has carried grassroots values of openness into institutions worldwide.
Tang’s work proves that technology, when steered with ethics and citizen participation, can turn fragmentation i
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