Amid the stiff competition of 800 candidates globally, our team stands humbled and inspired, eager to launch into the hard work of building the technological systems that will turn thousands of challenging conversations into tools for AI alignment. We're cognizant of the fact that the tough task ahead extends beyond the grant; this challenge is embedded in the social and political challenges core to deliberative democratic practice. As our co-founder Evelien's seminal thesis suggests, participatory practices, especially those enabled by digital tools, have suffered historically from apathy, low engagement, lack of trust, and barriers to entry.