Broad Listening in 2025

• A new illustration was created based on the understanding from December 2, 2025.
• In the diagram of Broad Listening drawn in 2023, it was depicted like this:
  • 
    • The understanding of the left diagram (E) and the right diagram (F) has deepened over the past two years, leading to a new illustration.
• A:
  • When many people express their opinions, the recipient gets overwhelmed.
  • This is represented by E.
  • Issues like the Public Comment Overload Problem reflect this state.
• B:
  • To avoid the situation in A, there is a practice of "listening only to a select few."
  • This leads to dissatisfaction among those not included in the "select few."
• C:

  • Consequently, it leads to demands like "Listen to us too!"

  • However, doing this results in the state of A, making it an impossible choice.

  • An unexpected realization over the past two years is that some people think "Broad Listening" is about "turning B into C."

    • Confrontational Broad Listening
      • 
    • There is a lack of imagination regarding how "information receivers" or "listeners" are suffering from an Information Flood.
      • 

  • The "Listening" in Broad Listening is about "hearing," and the subject of hearing is the "listener."

• D: The form that has emerged as of December 2025
  • The diagram F has become more comprehensible in detail.
    • 
  • A system where AI Listens and Organizes Thoughts is emerging by 2025.
  • In the February 2025 lecture Scaling Digital Democracy, a diagram of AI-Mediated Communication was drawn.
    • 
    • At that time, it was expressed as "various forms are possible."
  • In March 2025, Idobata System v1 was created.
    • 
  • After repeated experiments, by June, it evolved into "Manifesto That Can Speak" by Team Mirai.
    • 
  • By November, a structure called Mirai AI Interview emerged, where an AI Interviewer conducts one-on-one dialogues with people about what Team Mirai wants to know.
  • 
    • The arrows in this D diagram being bidirectional is significant.
    • In 2023, only a unidirectional view was apparent.
    • In the current Mirai AI Interview:
      • There is short-term "bidirectional communication" between people and the AI Interviewer.
      • However, how Team Mirai utilizes the reports submitted as a result of these dialogues is not very visible.
        • There is a lack of Traceability of Where It Went.
      • The bidirectionality between the listener and AI is quite weak.
        • The listener inputs what they want to hear into a prompt.
        • After running for a while and gathering opinions, they analyze and get reactions to "what they want to hear."
        • Although it is technically bidirectional, one round trip takes 1-2 weeks.

While writing the explanation, I remembered writing about three types of stakeholders, not just two.

• Three Types of Stakeholders in Broad Listening
• It is often the case that citizens do not understand that the data analysts in the middle are overwhelmed by the information flood.
• 
  • Benefits for Analysts in Broad Listening

This page is a high-quality translation from /nishio/2025年のブロードリスニング. The original content is maintained by NISHIO Hirokazu.