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AI and Public Engagement

Project Spotlight: Co-Designing an AI Tool with Communities

How AI translation and plain-language summaries are opening up special education plans to more families.

Joanna French

Oct 1, 2026

Article image for The Halitosis of Our Times
Governing AI

The Halitosis of Our Times

The Hugging Face incident wasn't a rogue AI escaping its sandbox. It was a chain of poor human decisions. We need to stop talking about AI like mythology and start treating it like engineering.

Published on September 30, 2026 by Anirudh Dinesh

Article image for The Halitosis of Our Times
Governing AI

The Halitosis of Our Times

The Hugging Face incident wasn't a rogue AI escaping its sandbox. It was a chain of poor human decisions. We need to stop talking about AI like mythology and start treating it like engineering.

Published on September 30, 2026 by Anirudh Dinesh

Article image for The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way
AI Infrastructure

The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way

Governors from Healey to Shapiro now say data centers need local buy-in, but they haven't said what a community "yes" actually looks like. Since 2024, at least 46 projects representing more than $170 billion have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled, often because engagement started after the key decisions were made and benefits were whatever developers chose to offer. Deals in West Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania show the terms can be negotiated, but only if states give communities the capacity to take part: early information, independent expertise, and a process that developers can pay for without owning.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Dr. Deborah Stine and Beth Simone Noveck

Article image for The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way
AI Infrastructure

The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way

Governors from Healey to Shapiro now say data centers need local buy-in, but they haven't said what a community "yes" actually looks like. Since 2024, at least 46 projects representing more than $170 billion have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled, often because engagement started after the key decisions were made and benefits were whatever developers chose to offer. Deals in West Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania show the terms can be negotiated, but only if states give communities the capacity to take part: early information, independent expertise, and a process that developers can pay for without owning.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Dr. Deborah Stine and Beth Simone Noveck

Article image for Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist
News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist

At least 46 AI data center projects — more than $170 billion in announced investment — have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled since 2024 following community opposition. In this week's Reboot piece, Beth Simone Noveck and Deborah Stine argue trust is the infrastructure data centers are missing, and developers can pay for the community conversation without owning it. Rutgers' National AI Opinion Monitor shows why: AI adoption hit 72% in August while worry climbed to 50% and anger to 30%. NYC's Public Advocate has called for an AI bill of rights; the Maldives' Prosecutor General now requires courtroom disclosure of AI use; and The American Prospect reports Anthropic has been running a predictive surveillance system that flagged suspected dissenters to police.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

Article image for Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist
News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist

At least 46 AI data center projects — more than $170 billion in announced investment — have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled since 2024 following community opposition. In this week's Reboot piece, Beth Simone Noveck and Deborah Stine argue trust is the infrastructure data centers are missing, and developers can pay for the community conversation without owning it. Rutgers' National AI Opinion Monitor shows why: AI adoption hit 72% in August while worry climbed to 50% and anger to 30%. NYC's Public Advocate has called for an AI bill of rights; the Maldives' Prosecutor General now requires courtroom disclosure of AI use; and The American Prospect reports Anthropic has been running a predictive surveillance system that flagged suspected dissenters to police.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

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Featured image for Project Spotlight: Co-Designing an AI Tool with Communities
AI and Public Engagement

Project Spotlight: Co-Designing an AI Tool with Communities

California's AI-EP project made parents co-designers of an AI tool that makes their children's education plans easier to understand. More than 200 families joined the first pilot and came away better able to advocate for their kids. It shows that who you choose to include shapes who the tool serves.

Published on October 1, 2026 by Joanna French
Featured image for The Halitosis of Our Times
Governing AI

The Halitosis of Our Times

The Hugging Face incident wasn't a rogue AI escaping its sandbox. It was a chain of poor human decisions. We need to stop talking about AI like mythology and start treating it like engineering.

Published on September 30, 2026 by Anirudh Dinesh
Featured image for The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way
AI Infrastructure

The $170 billion lesson data center developers keep learning the hard way

Governors from Healey to Shapiro now say data centers need local buy-in, but they haven't said what a community "yes" actually looks like. Since 2024, at least 46 projects representing more than $170 billion have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled, often because engagement started after the key decisions were made and benefits were whatever developers chose to offer. Deals in West Virginia, Louisiana, Texas, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania show the terms can be negotiated, but only if states give communities the capacity to take part: early information, independent expertise, and a process that developers can pay for without owning.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Dr. Deborah Stine and Beth Simone Noveck
Featured image for Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist
News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: 46 Blocked Data Centers, NYC's AI Report, and Anthropic's Watchlist

At least 46 AI data center projects — more than $170 billion in announced investment — have been blocked, withdrawn, or stalled since 2024 following community opposition. In this week's Reboot piece, Beth Simone Noveck and Deborah Stine argue trust is the infrastructure data centers are missing, and developers can pay for the community conversation without owning it. Rutgers' National AI Opinion Monitor shows why: AI adoption hit 72% in August while worry climbed to 50% and anger to 30%. NYC's Public Advocate has called for an AI bill of rights; the Maldives' Prosecutor General now requires courtroom disclosure of AI use; and The American Prospect reports Anthropic has been running a predictive surveillance system that flagged suspected dissenters to police.

Published on September 28, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell
Featured image for Project Spotlight: Engaged California — Wildfire Recovery Action Planning
AI and Public Engagement

Project Spotlight: Engaged California — Wildfire Recovery Action Planning

After the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, California's Office of Data and Innovation used Engaged California to gather more than 1,300 resident comments. AI helped turn that input into 19 policy options, which residents then deliberated over and ranked. Jeffery Marino explains how clear ownership, with state agencies, local governments, and community groups acting together with support from the Governor's office, turned those priorities into a five-part recovery action plan.

Published on September 25, 2026 by Jeffery Marino
Featured image for Project Spotlight: What Could BG Be? How Warren County, Kentucky Turned 8,000 Voices into a 25-Year Plan
AI and Public Engagement

Project Spotlight: What Could BG Be? How Warren County, Kentucky Turned 8,000 Voices into a 25-Year Plan

Ben Peterson, Executive Director of the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, Kentucky, on how What Could BG Be? used AI-supported tools to turn input from nearly 8,000 residents into Bowling Green's next 25-year comprehensive plan.

Published on September 23, 2026 by Ben Peterson
Featured image for InnovateUS Awarded National Leadership Grant to Expand Civic AI Learning Alongside New Jersey, Montana, and Hawai'i State Libraries
AI and Public Engagement

InnovateUS Awarded National Leadership Grant to Expand Civic AI Learning Alongside New Jersey, Montana, and Hawai'i State Libraries

Three-Year Multistate Initiative Will Combine Free Mobile AI Learning with Library-Based Programs Helping Residents Navigate Government, Participate in Civic Life, and Solve Community Problems with AI

Published on September 21, 2026 by Bonnie McGilpin
Featured image for News That Caught Our Eye: 8 Things Worth Reading Before a Data Center Comes to Your Community
News That Caught Our Eye

News That Caught Our Eye: 8 Things Worth Reading Before a Data Center Comes to Your Community

As this week's curator of News That Caught Our Eye, I'm sharing the latest resources available to help public officials think through a proposed data center.  Every AI data center and every community is different.  These resources provide the tools to help each community think through its decisions about an AI data center, often in a challenging environment.

Published on September 17, 2026 by Dr. Deborah Stine
Featured image for Designing Democratic Engagement with AI: A New Course for Turning Public Input into Public Policy
AI and Public Engagement

Designing Democratic Engagement with AI: A New Course for Turning Public Input into Public Policy

A new free course from the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, The GovLab, and InnovateUS teaches public servants how to design AI-enabled public engagement that turns comments into policy, drawing on 42 real-world examples from 20 countries.

Published on September 15, 2026 by Dane Gambrell and Sarah Hubbard
Featured image for What Is AI For? Four Questions Guiding Reboot This Fall
AI for Governance

What Is AI For? Four Questions Guiding Reboot This Fall

The public conversation about AI has swung from exuberance to alarm, casting AI as an unstoppable force. That framing overlooks the fact that public institutions design, build, buy, and regulate AI, and societies still choose where it leads. This fall, Reboot is organizing its coverage around four connected questions: what capabilities public institutions need, how they can become institutions that listen and learn, what public AI infrastructure requires, and how we measure whether AI is actually creating public value.

Published on September 14, 2026 by Beth Simone Noveck and Elana Banin
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Informational Democracy

Democracy's Compression Problem

AI is making it possible for governments to listen at a scale that was previously impossible, turning thousands of comments, service interactions and other signals into usable knowledge. But automated synthesis is not neutral: every act of compression determines what becomes visible, what disappears and ultimately what institutions come to know. If AI is to strengthen democracy rather than flatten it, AI-assisted listening must meet a higher standard: fidelity to what people actually said, preservation of plurality and disagreement, traceability back to the underlying evidence, contestability by those being represented, and a clear connection between what is heard and consequential decisions.

Published on August 25, 2026 by Beth Simone Noveck
Featured image for Learning to Listen: Why AI-Assisted Public Engagement Is a Skill We Need
AI and Public Engagement

Learning to Listen: Why AI-Assisted Public Engagement Is a Skill We Need

Two trends are unfolding in parallel around the world. Public anxiety about artificial intelligence is growing while communities’ satisfaction in how they participate in civic activities and contribute to government policy and programs is declining. Pathways to resolve this tension are emerging as governments find ways to use these technologies to help communities participate more meaningfully. Examples from Bogotá, Hamburg, Brazil, Mexico and elsewhere show how AI can improve the quality and experience of public engagement while reducing its time and cost. If done poorly, or without safeguards, it can also introduce new risks. However, these can be managed with appropriate process design, regulation and delivery by skilled practitioners.

Published on August 10, 2026 by Beth Simone Noveck, Nicholas Biddle and Alex Fischer
Featured image for Massachusetts needs to clean up its laws, and AI can help
Rethinking Regulation

Massachusetts needs to clean up its laws, and AI can help

A Boston Globe editorial argues that Massachusetts should use AI to identify outdated laws, unnecessary reporting requirements, and inefficient regulations, drawing on reforms and pilot programs in other states. Featuring insights from Beth Simone Noveck and Stanford RegLab, it explains how AI-assisted review, paired with human judgment, could reduce administrative burdens and improve government efficiency.

Published on August 6, 2026 by Beth Simone Noveck
Featured image for AI Is Infrastructure. Govern It Accordingly.
Governing AI

AI Is Infrastructure. Govern It Accordingly.

As prediction increasingly shapes decisions about jobs, healthcare, education, and public services, the next frontier is how it organizes society. Drawing on the history of the railroads, this essay argues that policymakers already have a blueprint for governing essential technologies: treat AI as infrastructure, apply public oversight, and ensure that systems central to modern life serve the public interest rather than private power.

Published on August 3, 2026 by Mona Sloane
Featured image for Bummed About AI? Democratic Societies Need Public Participation to Shape It
Research Radar

Bummed About AI? Democratic Societies Need Public Participation to Shape It

AI presents real risks, but disengagement leaves its future to others. Drawing on principles of negotiation, mediation, and decision-making, this essay by John Lande, Isidor Loeb Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Law, argues that democratic societies should approach AI as they would any difficult dispute: by carefully weighing risks and opportunities, exercising sound judgment under conditions of uncertainty, and participating in the decisions that will shape its future. This blog is adapted from a University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies SSRN paper.

Published on July 28, 2026 by John Lande