Recurring Series

News That Caught Our Eye

Showing 15 of 90 results in series "News That Caught Our Eye"

Reboot Weekly: 100 Interns, 1,000 Policies, 1,500 Workers, 100,000 Learners—AI, Government, and Democracy by the Numbers

Lots of numbers in this week's News that Caught Our Eye: Beth Simone Noveck interviews Matti Schneider of OpenFisca about why we may be over-investing in "100 interns on cocaine" aka GenAI when what we need are more computational legal systems. Yan Zhu maps over 1,000 AI governance documents, revealing proliferating policies but major gaps. Summer Mothwood explains how California used AI to make sense of suggestions from 1500 state workers about how to improve government. Beyond Reboot, Brookings finds federal AI use rising but uneven across agencies, while New York scales AI training to over 100,000 workers. Elsewhere, reporting on ICE’s geotracking system and proposed limits on license plate data underscores growing scrutiny of surveillance, while research on AI “personalities” and worker pushback in China points to emerging risks in decision-making and labor.

Published on Apr 23, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Building Resilient Systems, Designing Public-Interest AI, and Confronting Generative Polarization

This week on Reboot Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck shows how tools like GrantWell can expand access to public funding and model public-interest AI. Lee Rainie and Janna Anderson warn that AI is becoming society’s operating system, requiring resilience as shared infrastructure. Anirudh Dinesh examines how generative AI fuels “echo chambers,” reinforcing existing beliefs. Beyond Reboot, MIT Risk Review, and CEST maps gaps in governance frameworks, while the Center for AI and Digital Policy tracks global progress toward democratic AI. Partnership on AI examines how Pennsylvania and SEIU Local 668 negotiated protections for nearly 10,000 state employees, and the European Commission Joint Research Centre outlines a framework for scaling public-sector AI. Emerging tools from New Jersey Innovation Authority’s NJ EASE to DARPA’s agent communication initiative show AI moving from experimentation to infrastructure, as Anthropic highlights rising cybersecurity risks.

Published on Apr 16, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Making Data Usable, Navigating Policy Overload, and Reimagining Public Communication

This week on Reboot Democracy, John Wihbey and Jill Abramson draw on a year of workshops with 1,400 public-sector communicators to show how AI can accelerate research and storytelling, but in a context of declining trust, it raises the stakes. Stefaan Verhulst, PhD, and Adam Zable chart a “Fourth Wave” of open data where AI serves as an interface to authoritative data. Jorge Cesar Ramirez Mata demonstrates how #ReguLens helps organizations navigate policy overload and engage earlier in the policymaking process. Beyond Reboot, Janna Quitney Anderson and Lee Rainie warn that AI is becoming society’s invisible operating system and that resilience requires collective infrastructure. Jennifer Pahlka argues philanthropy should help governments build AI capacity and reduce vendor dependence. Research mapping eight European countries finds strong use of AI in agenda-setting but gaps in accountability. Nava Labs shows AI can improve benefits navigation accuracy, but only with sustained support. OpenAI’s blueprint proposes taxes on automated labor and public wealth mechanisms. A World Health Organization-backed effort calls for treating AI as a public mental health issue as risks grow.

Published on Apr 9, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Governing Agents, Expanding Evidence, and Making Hard Choices

This week on Reboot Democracy, Sarosh Nagar and David Eaves examine what it will take for governments to govern AI agents already operating in open environments, from building trust infrastructure to managing multi-agent risks. Alister Martin and the Link Health team show how pairing AI with human navigators can help close the public benefits gap, underscoring the need for stronger evidence to guide investment. Beth Simone Noveck reflects on the challenges of teaching democratic engagement in the age of AI, highlighting the tradeoffs behind course design. Beyond Reboot, the White House announced new appointments to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, as emerging work in AI ethics and political theory argues that AI systems need “normative competence” to function in democratic contexts. California is moving to limit AI workplace surveillance, New York City schools have introduced guidance, and the National Science Foundation has launched a nationwide effort to build AI readiness. Evidence of chatbot dependency is prompting calls for safeguards, a wrongful arrest tied to facial recognition underscores persistent challenges, and globally, export controls continue to struggle to contain AI proliferation.

Published on Apr 2, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: AI Expanding Access to Funding, Opportunity, and Public Systems

This week on Reboot Democracy, Eileen Twiggs explores how storytelling can rebuild trust in government through more human-centered communication. Anjith Prakash reflects on Massachusetts’ launch of the GrantWell tool to help municipalities access $17.5 billion in federal funding by reducing application complexity. Nhial Deng examines how AI is already functioning as an economic opportunity layer in places like Kakuma refugee camp. Beyond Reboot, research supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation shows AI shifting power across markets and public institutions. A global Anthropic study of 81,000 users in 159 countries finds people want AI to reduce cognitive burden and expand access to learning and work. Concerns about reliability and job loss persist. The White House advanced a federal AI policy blueprint prioritizing national consistency. Russia moved to restrict the use of foreign AI tools. New deployments in Brazil are enabling climate risk mapping, while projects in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam region are using AI to support participatory urban planning.

Published on Mar 26, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: AI for Human Services, Civic AI Compacts with Universities, and Lessons from Iran’s AI Infrastructure

This week on Reboot Democracy, Robert Asaro-Angelo explores how AI could help human services agencies reduce administrative burdens and improve benefits delivery. Dane Gambrell shares lessons from 50 global experts shaping a course on democratic engagement in the AI era. Neil Kleiman argues for “civic AI compacts” between cities and universities, while Sara Bazoobandi examines how Iran’s AI infrastructure, built for control, created strategic fragility. Beyond Reboot, Lawfare warns that U.S. military AI policy is increasingly governed through contracts rather than public law. Vietnam issued a national AI ethics framework, and the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific discovery with a new supercomputer expected to be operational by 2026. Officials tied to the Department of Government Efficiency used ChatGPT to help terminate over $100 million in humanities grants, and the National Guard is deploying AI tools for disaster response and operational planning.

Published on Mar 19, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Governing the Agentic Web, Deliberative Technology for Congress, and South Australia’s Sovereign AI Strategy

This week on Reboot Democracy, Alberto Rodriguez Alvarez explores with Santi Garces how the City of Boston is experimenting with the Model Context Protocol to safely connect AI agents to government systems. Elana Banin speaks with Lorelei Kelly about new research on how deliberative technology could revive the First Amendment rights by rebuilding how civic input reaches Congress. Matt Ryan argues that developing “sovereign AI capability” in South Australia will require participatory governance, stronger public-sector skills, and reinvesting efficiency gains into public services. Beyond Reboot, Vermont’s new law requires disclosure of AI-generated campaign media. Gallup data showing 43% of public-sector employees now use AI at work. A White House meeting convened tech companies that pledged to fund power infrastructure for energy-hungry AI data centers. And New York court cases where AI chatbots generated fake legal citations that led judges to question or dismiss filings.

Published on Mar 12, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Procurement Power, Food Security, and the Future of Work

This week on Reboot Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck argues that governments are among the largest buyers of AI yet rarely use that purchasing power to demand transparency, interoperability, and public accountability. Seth Harris examines how AI could accelerate the shift toward skills-based hiring, expanding opportunity for workers without traditional degrees while raising risks around bias. In Global AI Watch, Elana Banin speaks with B Cavello about why institutional capacity is the central barrier to addressing global food insecurity. Beyond Reboot, Meta’s $65 million election integrity push faces scrutiny as AI-generated disinformation spreads across democratic elections. Pennsylvania lawmakers are moving to regulate AI mental health chatbots. Researchers propose deliberative technologies to help Congress process civic input. Schools are rethinking assessment in the age of generative AI, and Italian regulators have ordered Amazon to halt the collection of sensitive worker data tied to AI-enabled workplace surveillance.

Published on Mar 5, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Controlling the Stack, Governing Sovereignty, and Training the State

This week on Reboot Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck explores how governments can provide safe, affordable access to AI at scale, arguing that the real question is not buy versus build, but who controls the infrastructure. In Research Radar, she examines academic warnings about uncritical adoption and reframes the challenge as one of power and oversight. Luca Cominassi and Beth Simone Noveck then argue that sovereignty and regulation mean little without institutional capacity. Beyond Reboot, Washington, DC, ties AI training to procurement; Colorado debates data center safeguards, Stanford HAI researchers clarify what AI sovereignty requires, and new evidence shows little electoral penalty for AI-enabled deception. NPR examines bot swarms and the U.S. Department of Labor releases a national AI literacy framework.

Published on Feb 26, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Building a Culture of Recognition, AI Safety by Local Rule, and Argentina’s Strategy Reset

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 benchmark, arguing that AI safety must be tested against locally defined public-sector rules rather than inferred from English-language standards. Giulio Quaggiotto reflects on Argentina’s AI-supported “Questions Tree” experiment to rethink how governments build strategy. Beyond Reboot, Colombia’s AI-presented candidate Gaitana enters an Indigenous election, the Pentagon pressures Anthropic to loosen military guardrails, global experts release the 2026 International AI Safety Report, governments expand AI-assisted legislative drafting, and India convenes the first major Global South AI summit.

Published on Feb 19, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Designing Democratic Engagement, Community-Built AI for IEPs, and Korea’s $73B Sovereignty Bet

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.

Published on Feb 12, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Testing Before Scale, Families Writing the Rules, Cities Fixing Permits

This week on Reboot Democracy, Cassandra Madison argues that governments cannot responsibly adopt new tools without safe, shared spaces to test them before procurement locks in risk. Dhruv Kamlesh Kumar shows how that principle worked in practice on the AIEP project, where families shaped a special education tool by defining what information matters, how privacy is protected, and how meaning is preserved across languages. Beth Simone Noveck reports from Boston, drawing on lessons from Spain to help launch a citizen-enabled permitting overhaul. These efforts stand in contrast to recent failures, from New York City shutting down a misleading chatbot to immigration surveillance systems and exposed children’s chat records that show how weak governance turns tools into harm.

Published on Feb 5, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Measuring Workforce Capacity, Governing Prediction, and Mapping Public Systems

InnovateUS launches the Observatory of Public Sector AI to examine the impact of AI training and use. Princeton's Arvind Narayanan and State of Hawaii Chief Data Officer Rebecca Cai dig into the pros and cons of predictive AI use in government, explains Stephan Schmidt. Anita McGahan discusses Christian Bason on how AI can help public institutions move beyond rigid hierarchies toward more humane, trust-based ways of working; and Aziza Umarova shows how Uzbekistan and Bhutan are mapping schools with AI and crowdsourcing. States continue expanding public-sector AI laws despite looming federal preemption battles. South Korea advances a comprehensive AI regulatory framework, and a new report traces how data-center expansion is shifting environmental, labor, and community-level governance decisions.

Published on Jan 29, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Modernizing Regulation, Making Services Multilingual, and Listening First

Reeve Bull shows how Virginia is using AI to improve regulatory review, from analyzing statutes to streamlining outdated rules. Anirudh Dinesh looks to India, where the Bhashini platform expands democratic participation by enabling people to engage with government in the languages they actually speak. At the state level, New York advances one of the most comprehensive AI governance agendas yet, while new research from Brookings and the ACLU explains where AI policy takes root and how lawmakers can better understand the growing body of AI legislation. Finally, a viral vibecoded tool from Estonia shows how simple civic AI can quickly catch and fix legislative errors. Check out the the Reboot News along with the latest workshops from InnovateUS.

Published on Jan 22, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrellx

News That Caught Our Eye

Reboot Weekly: Fixing Benefit Backlogs, Making Labor Law Searchable, and Listening to Residents

This week on Reboot Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck speaks with Dave Cole, New Jersey’s Chief Innovation Officer, about how the newly codified New Jersey Innovation Authority is using AI to reduce delays in Medicaid, SNAP, unemployment insurance, and Summer EBT while keeping human judgment central; Dane Gambrell’s latest Research Radar examines how AI is making decades of National Labor Relations Board decisions searchable and usable for workers and advocates navigating a fragmented labor law system; and in Global AI Watch, Nico Campbell shares an InnovateUS case study from Hillerød, Denmark, where AI-supported public engagement helped city leaders treat participation itself as civic infrastructure. Beyond Reboot, governments continue to test AI in high-stakes settings. From Utah’s AI-assisted prescription renewals and England’s use of AI to manage emergency care demand, to debates over AI surveillance in New York’s transit system. New policy briefs from India and Europe argue for treating AI infrastructure as a public good even as budget uncertainty threatens digital skills and inclusion efforts.

Published on Jan 15, 2026 by Elana Banin and Dane Gambrell