How we used AI to lift the voices of California state employees Using AI to analyze over 2,400 employee comments, California’s Engaged California team found that the challenge wasn’t the scale of the data, but making sense of complex, layered input without oversim...

What does it take to make large-scale public input usable?

By pairing AI with open, shareable data, California's #OfficeofDataandInnovation team shows how transparency, code, and human judgment can turn thousands of comments into something others can build on.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/lifting...

What AI Governance Documents Actually Cover and What They Don’t AI governance is expanding fast, but not evenly. A new analysis from MIT and Georgetown’s CSET maps over 1,000 governance documents to show that while policies are proliferating, they cluster around f...

AI governance is growing fast, but not evenly.

MIT Risk Initiative mapping 1,000+ policies shows where attention clusters and where gaps remain across socioeconomic impacts and upstream design.

📖 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/what-ai...

But Grok Said So! How AI is Enabling Political Polarization Across contexts like India, where author Anirudh Dinesh’s family lives, AI chatbots such as xAI’s Grok are increasingly used not to inform but to generate arguments that reinforce existing political v...

In this #GlobalAIWatch, Anirudh Dinesh draws on his family's experience in India to show how tools like xAI’s Grok reinforce beliefs—creating “generative echo chambers.” Mixed research suggests this could shape polarization globally.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-poli...

AI can cut public funding, or help communities access it.

In @fastcompany.com, I show how #GrantWell helps local governments navigate complexity and claim the funds already set aside for them.

🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/grantwe...

🔗 www.fastcompany.com/91525531/gra...

#ResearchRadar: AI’s biggest risk isn’t a single failure, it’s a slow drift. Less agency, weaker shared reality, more automated dependence.

@elonuniversity.bsky.social's 386 experts say resilience must be built as infrastructure, not left to individuals.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-huma...

We’re launching #RethinkingRegulationwithAI.

Across countries, regulation is growing faster than institutions can process.

ReguLens, built with @ilo.org, helps organizations analyze proposals and engage earlier in policy debates.

Read more: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/policy-...

In #ResearchRadar, @sverhulst.bsky.social and Adam Zable examine how the International Monetary Fund’s StatGPT report reframes data access in the age of AI.

AI is the interface, not source of truth. This is the "Fourth Wave of Open Data."

🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/researc...

AI is changing how public communication is produced. It’s also raising the bar for credibility.

New from @wihbey.bsky.social + Jill Abramson: what 1,400+ public communicators learned about using AI for gaining trust.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/amplify...

Designing Democratic Engagement in the AI Era: Three Hard Choices Designing a one-hour course on democratic engagement and AI means confronting genuinely hard questions about representativeness, political framing, and audience, where thoughtful experts disagree, and...

In this #GlobalAIWatch piece, I share three hard choices in designing AI-enabled public engagement, based on input from 50 experts across 24 countries.

Without action, engagement becomes performative.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/designi...

The Next Frontier: AI, Equity, and the Future of Public Benefits Millions of Americans miss out on health and food assistance benefits due to fragmented systems and complex enrollment processes. This piece explores how Link Health, in partnership with the AI for Im...

Alister Martin, Ar’Sheill Monsanto, Timothy Scheinert, and Austin Tsai ask: how do we use AI not just to make public systems easier to use, but to improve outcomes?

@linkhealth.bsky.social shows one path. But we still lack evidence on what works at scale.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-equi...

The AI Agents are Here: A Technical Blueprint for Governments AI agents are reshaping how systems operate across sectors. This piece argues that the imminent challenge to address is autonomy, including how agents act, interact, and scale in open environments. It...

As Sarosh Nagar and @eaves.ca of @iipp-ucl.bsky.social + @ucl.ac.uk describe, AI agents are already acting autonomously and interacting in open environments.

How to govern that well? Trust infrastructure, multi-agent coordination, and public sector capacity.

👾 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-agen...

From Access to Opportunity: How Governments Can Build Inclusive AI Growing up in Kakuma refugee camp, Nhial Deng experienced what it means to be excluded from opportunities. Returning years later, he saw young people using AI not as aid, but as a tool to build skills...

Nhial Deng grew up in Kakuma refugee camp, excluded from opportunity.

Years later, he saw young people using AI to build skills, income, and futures.

AI is already an economic opportunity layer, but fragile without design.

Read: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/from-ac...

Reducing Friction in Federal Funding: How Massachusetts Built GrantWell Massachusetts municipalities are eligible for an estimated $17.5 billion in federal funding, but accessing it is often harder than securing it. In partnership with the Massachusetts Federal Funds and ...

$17.5B in federal funding is available to MA communities, but much of it goes untapped.

GrantWell, built with the state, uses AI to help municipalities find, understand, and apply for grants, starting from real community needs.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/reducin...

Finding the "True Thing": Lessons in Storytelling, Trust, and Institutional Brand In this post, Eileen Twiggs draws on lessons from the InnovateUS workshop "Effective Use of Social Media: Storytelling, Trust, and Institutional Brand" to explore how public servants can move beyond r...

Government comms doesn’t have to be boring.

Find the “true thing,” talk like a human, be platform-native, and treat AI like a teammate, not a substitute.

Trust isn’t built through perfect messaging. It’s built through real stories.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/storyte...

Built Against Its People: Iran’s AI Infrastructure of Control Dr. Sara Bazoobandi examines how Iran’s doctrine of “knowledge jihad” shaped the development of its digital and AI infrastructure, transforming technology into an instrument of state control. The piec...

Iran didn’t just adopt AI, it conscripted it.

This #GlobalAIWatch by Dr. Sara Bazoobandi shows how ideology shaped a centralized AI system built for control and why that design creates hidden fragility.

A must-read for democracies building AI infrastructure.

rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/iran-ai...

What We Learned from 50 Experts About Designing Democratic Engagement in the AI Era More than 50 practitioners, researchers, and civic technologists from 24 countries reviewed the draft curriculum for Designing Democratic Engagement for the AI Era, providing over 300 comments and sug...

Drafting a course on "Designing Democratic Engagement for the AI Era," we asked 50+ experts from 24 countries for feedback.

The result: 300+ comments. Using AI, we synthesized the input into 12 curriculum improvements.

What we learned ↓
🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-demo...

The Case for Civic AI Compacts with Higher Education Cities often treat nearby universities as occasional partners rather than strategic collaborators. But as artificial intelligence reshapes local economies and public services, that relationship may ne...

In today's #ResearchRadar, Neil Kleiman explores how civic AI compacts can connect city governments with campus AI capacity w/ @techanddemocracy.newamerica.org

📖 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/civic-a...

📰 www.route-fifty.com/artificial-i...

Can AI help save us bureaucrats from our bureaucracy? InnovateUS and the Center for Civic Futures are launching a new series exploring how AI can help human services agencies reduce administrative burden and improve benefits delivery. Drawing on Robert A...

How can AI help human services agencies work better for both staff and the people they serve?

Robert Asaro-Angelo reflects on lessons from leading @stateofnewjersey.bsky.social's Department of Labor in launching a new workshop series: AI and Human Services.

🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-huma...

South Australia needs its own sovereign AI capability In this commentary, originally published by InDaily South Australia, Matt Ryan argues that artificial intelligence can help governments deliver more effective, human-centered services, but only if it ...

#SouthAustralia is debating how AI could improve government services. But efficiency alone won’t build trust.

New commentary from Matt Ryan explores lessons on participatory AI governance, public-sector capability, and reinvesting efficiency gains.

🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/sa-need...

Assembly Required: A Conversation with Lorelei Kelly on Deliberative Technology and Congressional Reform In this conversation with Elana Banin, Lorelei Kelly argues that rebuilding democratic resilience requires redesigning the institutional infrastructure connecting citizens to Congress. Drawing on cons...

A conversation with @loreleikelly.bsky.social on how deliberative technology and AI could help modernize the connection between citizens and Congress.

🔗 rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/assembl...

Building an “Agentic Middleware” for the City Government: Boston’s Experiment with Model Context Protocol Boston is preparing for a future where AI agents increasingly interact with government systems. In this interview, Boston's Chief Information Officer Santiago Garces explains how the city is experimen...

AI agents will soon interact directly with government systems, querying data, navigating portals, and generating traffic across public infrastructure.

Boston is testing a #ModelContextProtocol.

Reboot Democracy: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/boston-...

Fast Company: www.fastcompany.com/91504876/bos...

Using AI to Help States Break Down Barriers to Skills-Based Hiring Artificial intelligence is often portrayed as a force that will destroy jobs. In this essay, Seth Harris argues that it can also expand opportunity. By using AI to identify and remove unnecessary coll...

AI is often framed as a threat to jobs. But it can also expand access to work.

@mrsethharris.bsky.social shares how states can use AI to identify and remove unnecessary degree requirements and advance skills-based hiring.

A path to equity and efficiency:
rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ai-for-...

Who Will Shape AI in the Public Interest The current controversy over the Pentagon’s AI contracts reveals a deeper issue: governments are shaping the AI market through procurement in the wrong ways or not at all, failing to make demands that...

Recent tensions between the U.S. Dept of Defense and Anthropic highlight that the government isn’t just regulating AI, it’s one of its largest customers.

Procurement shapes markets. Will we shape AI by default or by design?

Read more: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/public-ai

Research Radar: Academics Are Sounding the Alarm on AI Adoption. Who's Listening? A new paper urges universities to resist the uncritical adoption of AI, arguing that existing research integrity standards already prohibit much of what institutions are normalizing. Beth Simone Novec...

Universities are rapidly adopting commercial AI tools.

A new paper warns that research integrity standards already raise concerns about transparency and independence. For many in the public sector, refusal isn’t realistic. Where do we go from here?

Read more: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/researc...

AI for Governance: How Institutions Can Provide AI Access Safely, Affordably, and at Scale As governments move from AI pilots to workforce-wide access, the hardest questions are practical: What does it cost at scale? Who gets access? How do you log usage and manage risk? How do we pair acce...

Enterprise AI access doesn’t have to mean multi-million-dollar-per-seat contracts. NJ built inside its own cloud (~$1/user/month). Boston’s pilot is under $10K year one.

Pricing structure matters as much as model performance.

Read today's #AIforGovernance piece: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/how-bos...

Reboot Weekly: Building a Culture of Recognition, AI Safety by Local Rule, and Argentina’s Strategy Reset - News That Caught Our Eye This week on Reboot Democracy, Max Stier explores how AI can strengthen internal government culture by building real-time recognition systems for civil servants. Elana Banin examines the UbuntuGuard b

📖 Read this week’s #NewsThatCaughtOurEye: rebootdemocracy.ai/newsthatcaug...

Evaluating AI Safety Through Local Policy: Findings from the UbuntuGuard benchmark A new paper introducing the UbuntuGuard benchmark questions whether strong results on English-language safety tests consistently translate into responsible use. Built from policies developed by 155 Af...

AI safety isn’t universal.

#UbuntuGuard, led by researchers at @brownpublichealth.bsky.social and collaborators, shows that models that pass English benchmarks can fail when tested against locally grounded policy rules across African languages.

Read more:
rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/ubuntu-...

Minding the brand: Leveraging AI to build a culture of recognition in government Max Stier argues that rebuilding trust in government begins inside agencies by recognizing and elevating the everyday excellence of career civil servants. Drawing on the Partnership for Public Service...

Presidents’ Day honors those who have held the nation’s highest office.

But trust in government is built inside agencies day to day.

Max Stier of @ourpublicservice.bsky.social explores how AI can strengthen cultures of recognition and performance.

Read more: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/minding...

Global AI Watch: Korean Public Funds for Global AI Advancements As Korea aims to become a top-three global AI power, the government has staked its strategy on “sovereign AI” as both an economic and national security priority. In this reflection, originally publish...

In our latest #GlobalAIWatch, @hickokmerve.bsky.social lexamines South Korea’s $73.5B public investment in a national foundation model and asks whether smaller language models, energy efficiency, and stronger evaluation may be wiser bets.

Read: rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/korea-p...

How We Co-Designed an AI-Powered Tool for IEPs with Families in San Francisco As the AIEP project concludes its first pilot in San Francisco, it offers more than a new AI tool for navigating IEPs. It shows what becomes possible when families, educators, designers, and researche...

150+ parents helped co-design an AI tool to make IEPs clearer and more accessible.

As #AIEP’s San Francisco pilot wraps, we’re sharing what it reveals about building AI with communities.

📖 Read the blog:
rebootdemocracy.ai/blog/co-desi...

🗓️ Workshop @ 2:00 PM ET:
innovate-us.org/human-center...