This paper analyzes the design choices of old and newly proposed computational frameworks for discovering commonalities in collective preferences, and examines their potential future implications, both technically and normatively. We begin by situating AI-assisted preference elicitation within the historical role of opinion polling, emphasizing that preferences are shaped by decision-making contexts and are rarely captured objectively. With this in mind, we explore AI-based democratic innovations as discovery tools for facilitating collective will, meaning-making, and consensus-seeking. At the same time, we warn against their dangerous misuse, such as enabling binding decisions, encouraging the erosion of power, or ex post facto rationalizing political outcomes.