Chatbots of Peace: “Blue Sources”

  • Purpose

    The "blue corpus” is a collection of written materials that we pre-load into the chatbot, so that it can answer questions using a liberal perspective.

  • Where did the blue corpus come from?

    A two-step process:
    1] Ask AI to select a starter set by finding the liberal works most widely recommended by reputable magazines and newspapers.
    2] Continue growing the corpus through human input from liberal voices found in our community, online, and among publishers.

  • Who's selecting the materials found in the blue corpus?

    The founders of the Post-Partisan Network recruits volunteers to interview liberals and publishers, make selections, and document why each work is added to the corpus. Anyone interested in joining the selection committee can contact us using the Connect With Us button at the top of this page.

  • What's in the blue corpus?

    The current contents of the blue corpus is listed below, grouped by the selection round that added each set of titles. We’ve also included background info on each round, such as the instructions to the selection committee, their membership, and the justifications for the works they selected.

  • Did the PPN just include everything people suggested?

    We tried. There’s a limit to how many pages a chatbot can hold in its mind at once. Currently red and blues get 250 items each. We also screened for quality material from reputable sources.

  • How did the PPN ensure the chatbot's reference material was balanced?

    We dedicated up to one third of the reference limit to materials endorsed by both the red and blue selection committees. From there, we added red and blue sources one at a time until we reached the maximum pages allowed.

Materials Currently in the “Blue Corpus”

  • Using Perplexity’s Deep Research: “Search reputable media and the works published by noteworthy opinion writers for articles and essays with titles similar to ‘The Top N Books that Every Liberal Should Read’ or ‘The Top N Authors that Every Progressive Should Know.’ Consolidate those recommendations into a list that shows the title, the year published, and the author.”

  • Click here to download a pdf of the 30 titles AI recommended that combine liberal and progressive writings on matters of economics, civil rights, feminism, and social justice.

  • Below is a consolidated list of books and authors most frequently recommended by reputable media outlets and notable opinion writers as essential reading for liberals. The list is sorted by frequency of recommendation, author, and title, based on recurring appearances in curated lists and expert essays.

    Key Findings

    Thematic Consistency: The most recommended books address core progressive concerns including civil rights (The New Jim Crow, Between the World and Me), economic inequality (Winner-Take-All Politics, The Grapes of Wrath), women's rights (The Feminine Mystique, The Handmaid's Tale), and democratic values (1984)12115.

    Source Diversity: Recommendations come from established outlets including Business Insider, Five Books expert interviews, NPR, progressive organizations, and academic reading lists, demonstrating broad consensus among progressive thought leaders123495.

    Audience Range: The list encompasses books for different progressive audiences, from children's social justice literature (A Is for Activist, The Paper Bag Princess) to sophisticated political analysis (Winner-Take-All Politics, Fear Itself)10347.

    Contemporary Relevance: Recent additions like Caste, How Democracies Die, and Between the World and Me reflect progressive engagement with current political and social challenges, while classics like 1984 and The Feminine Mystique maintain enduring relevance125.

    This consolidated analysis reveals that progressive reading recommendations maintain remarkable consistency across sources, with certain foundational texts appearing repeatedly while newer works address evolving political landscapes and social justice concerns.

  • PPN is now recruiting volunteers to participate in round 1. If you’re interested, use the “Connect with Us” button at the top of this page.