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, income, and futures in real time. This piece argues that AI is already functioning as an economic opportunity layer, but one that remains uneven and fragile without intentional design. Drawing on examples from Canada, Singapore, and Kenya, Deng outlines how governments can move from accidental access to structured opportunity by connecting AI to jobs, embedding it in trusted institutions, and building safeguards alongside deployment.
Published on Mar 25, 2026 by Nhial Deng
AI for Impact
Healey-Driscoll Administration Launches GrantWell, a First-of-its-Kind AI-Powered Tool to Assist Communities with Applying for Grants
The Healey-Driscoll Administration has launched GrantWell, a free AI-powered tool developed with Northeastern University’s Burnes Center for Social Change to help municipalities more easily access and apply for federal and state funding. GrantWell helps you summarize complex grant requirements, identify opportunities, and draft early-stage proposals, reducing administrative burden and expanding capacity to secure resources
Published on Mar 24, 2026
AI for Impact
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 Infrastructure Office, the Burnes Center for Social Change is launching GrantWell, an AI-powered tool designed to reduce the friction that keeps many communities from applying. Anjith Prakash, lead engineer at GrantWell, explains how the tool helps users find opportunities, understand requirements, and move local needs into competitive applications, expanding access to funding.
Published on Mar 24, 2026 by Anjith Prakash Chathan Kandy
AI for Governance
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 risk-averse messaging to tell more human, compelling stories. From finding the “true thing” in everyday work to using AI as a thoughtful teammate, these practical strategies show how to communicate more effectively in today’s fast-moving information environment and rebuild trust one story at a time.
Published on Mar 23, 2026 by Eileen Twiggs
Global AI Watch
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 piece traces how this system, built for surveillance and centralized authority, has also created strategic fragility, offering a cautionary lesson for democracies designing the foundations of AI governance.
Published on Mar 18, 2026 by Sara Bazoobandi
Research Radar
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 need to change. Drawing on a new policy brief, The AI Lab Next Door, Neil Kleiman argues that city–university “compacts” can transform transactional ties into intentional partnerships, helping communities harness the growing AI capacity already taking shape on college campuses.
Published on Mar 17, 2026 by Neil Kleiman
Research Radar
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 suggestions. The feedback highlighted the need for clearer guidance on institutional readiness, trust, inclusion, and the risks and limits of AI in public participation. This post summarizes the key themes that emerged, explains how AI tools were used to synthesize the feedback, and outlines the next steps in developing the course.
Published on Mar 17, 2026 by Dane Gambrell
AI for Governance
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 Asaro-Angelo’s experience as Commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development, this post examines how agencies can use AI to help the public sector improve benefits delivery, reduce administrative burden, and better support both frontline staff and the people they serve.
Published on Mar 16, 2026 by Robert Asaro-Angelo
Global AI Watch
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 builds public trust and democratic legitimacy. Drawing on examples from Spain, San Francisco, and the UK, he outlines a path for South Australia to develop “sovereign AI capability.” His proposal focuses on three priorities: participatory AI governance, stronger public-sector AI skills, and reinvesting efficiency gains into public services, ensuring AI improves government while strengthening democracy.
Published on Mar 11, 2026 by Matt Ryan
Research Radar
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 constitutional history and emerging technologies, she explores how deliberative technology and AI could help revive the First Amendment’s promises of assembly and petition for the digital age.
Published on Mar 10, 2026 by Elana Banin
AI for Governance
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 experimenting with the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as a governance layer between AI and public digital infrastructure. Starting with the open data portal, Boston is testing how MCP can make AI interactions more reliable, secure, and grounded in real government data. The effort provides a concrete example of how to safely support the emerging “agentic web” while improving access to public services.
Published on Mar 9, 2026 by Alberto Rodriguez Alvarez
Global AI Watch
Global AI Watch: AI, Food Security, and the Case for Institutional Reform
In this interview, B Cavello discusses findings from an Aspen Institute global survey and reflects on what it reveals about the intersection of AI and food systems. Practitioners consistently emphasized institutional capacity, governance, and distributional challenges as central constraints. The conversation explores how AI might support greater transparency, participation, and resilience, and what these insights mean for U.S. state and local policymakers working on food security, land governance, and public-sector capacity.
Published on Mar 4, 2026 by B Cavello and Elana Banin
AI and Labor
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 college degree requirements in state hiring, governments can reduce barriers to public employment, address racial and class disparities, and fill critical roles more efficiently. Backed by new research underway from the Burnes Center for Social Change, supported by the GitLab Foundation, he outlines how thoughtfully deployed AI can break down barriers and accelerate the shift to skills-based hiring.
Published on Mar 3, 2026 by Seth Harris
Governing AI
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 AI strengthen democracy and improve governance. As AI becomes core public infrastructure, public institutions must use their purchasing power deliberately by requiring portability, accountability, and interoperability and prioritizing use in the public interest. This post explains the public conversation we are having about public and democratic AI andhow governments can buy, build, and govern AI on the public’s terms.
Published on Mar 2, 2026 by Beth Simone Noveck
Global AI Watch
Key takeaways from “Regulating Algorithms: What Governments Around the World Are Doing and What Public Servants Should Know”
Building domestic AI systems or reducing reliance on big tech is not the same as making AI work for the public. Examples such as Spain’s ALIA project, the EU AI Act, and Italy’s new AI law show that ownership and regulation go only so far. What really matters is whether public institutions have the people, skills, and authority to oversee these systems once they’re in use.
Published on Feb 25, 2026 by Luca Cominassi and Beth Simone Noveck
