Rebooting Democracy in the Age of AI

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 and federal workforce data, he argues that internal culture, not just external messaging, shapes public confidence. The post explains how AI can cut paperwork, reduce bias, recognize good work in real time, and tailor praise, helping leaders boost morale, reward strong performance, and better serve the public.

This week on Reboot Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck and Dane Gambrell explain why more people need to learn how to "do engagement" in the AI era and invite co-creation of a new online course. Sofía Bosch Gómez, Joanna French, and Belén Farmer Martinez reflect on co-designing AI with families in San Francisco. Merve Hickok examines South Korea’s investments in small models. Beyond Reboot, federal AI deployments have nearly doubled, with the DOT planning to use AI to write regulations; labor leaders are pressing for stronger worker protections; and fights over data centers and digital public infrastructure highlight how power and accountability are being negotiated in real time.

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 published in the Herald Insight Collection, Merve Hickok examines Korea’s multibillion-dollar investment in a national foundation model amid U.S.–China competition and the rise of Open-Source AI, asking whether alternative investments—such as small language models, compute and energy efficiency, and AI governance and evaluation—might better secure Korea’s long-term autonomy and global leadership.