K-Tool 2.0: AI to support social transitions
K-Tool is evolving in two dimensions: on the one hand, it is improving its management, information loading, comprehension, and usability; on the other, it is incorporating Artificial Intelligence to enhance narrative analysis, automate processes, and support decision-making in complex social ecosystems.
In recent months, K-Tool has entered a new phase of development as a platform for addressing complex social challenges from a collaborative approach. Designed to facilitate ecosystem mapping, deep listening, narrative analysis, and experimentation portfolio management, the tool is progressively integrating Artificial Intelligence capabilities into all its modules.
The incorporation of AI has two main objectives: to automate information loading and organization tasks, and to enhance the deep and segmented narrative analysis that until now was applied manually. This translates into functional improvements such as automatic audio transcription, analysis of relevant images, videos, and texts to better understand existing social dynamics, extraction of significant quotes and detection of narrative patterns, generation of profiles (different positions on the same reality), and the possibility of prompting the dataset using an intelligent assistant, the K-Pilot.
Following the methodological criteria developed by the Agirre Lehendakaria Center and AC4-Columbia University over more than 10 years of experience in narrative analysis and the inclusion of the cultural dimension of social innovation processes - tested in more than 20 countries and at different scales-, it will include a developmental evaluation panel that shows how perceptions evolve over time and whether or not the project portfolio responds (or partially responds, or contradicts) to the different narratives and perceptions.
K-Tool will also make it easier to integrate relevant agents and suggest automatic connections between projects and actors, facilitating the detection of synergies and gaps in ecosystems. All these functionalities will have real-time validation and verification options, constantly feeding the model to ensure that automation acts as a support and not as a substitute for the work carried out so far. Alongside these functions, we are working on improving accessibility and use, with a new, clearer landing page nd more accessible to different audiences and the incorporation of explanatory guides.
These new features, whose development will continue in the coming months, will reinforce the cultural and anticipatory dimension of K-Tool, increasing its usefulness for decision-making in complex contexts. The qualitative datasets identified and generated for the different projects will allow us to capture nuances, diversity, and social changes, enriching the data with socio-cultural context and temporal tracking, necessary for effective narrative analysis.
Looking ahead, the data generated in the various processes will enable us to model and simulate potential impact scenarios: from direct project effects to adjacent impacts (e.g., rising housing prices) or narrative transformations. This will open the door to large-scale assessments of more significant changes in social perceptions.
To support this qualitative leap and explore new technological frontiers, ALC works closely with the HITZ research group at the University of the Basque Country (EHU). This collaboration connects two complementary doctoral lines of research: on the one hand, the thesis by Itziar Moreno, co-director of ALC, focused on Social Digital Twins as tools for analyzing complex social conflicts, integrating citizen narratives, simulating scenarios, and strengthening processes of collective intelligence and inclusive democracy; and, on the other hand, a more technical thesis developed at HITZ by Telmo Briones, aimed at studying the extent to which language models can support qualitative social research processes, such as quote extraction, pattern identification, and the construction of sociological profiles. The shared interest is to advance a more robust Ktool for working with qualitative data, social narratives, and future scenarios, while always maintaining a critical eye on the ethical, methodological, and epistemological limits of AI. In this regard, the collaboration with HITZ allows ALC to test new functionalities, strengthen the tool’s scientific foundation, and explore how digital technologies can contribute to processes of social innovation, adaptive governance, and impact assessment in the face of complex challenges.