Published on June 4, 2026
Deborah Stine outlines 10 questions about electricity demand, water use, workforce impacts, and community benefit agreements that communities should ask before construction begins. Gulnaz Kordanova examines Kazakhstan's rapid expansion from digital government into sovereign AI infrastructure, warning that gaps in connectivity, devices, and digital literacy could deepen inequality in the AI era. Anita McGahan argues that the most urgent AI-era leadership challenges in government are deeply human ones — psychological safety, honest feedback, and helping people perform under uncertainty. Debates over tech infrastructure continue, with David Eaves calling for interoperable cloud markets and the European Commission unveiling a digital autonomy package.
InnovateUS delivers no-cost, at-your-own-pace, and live learning on data, digital, innovation, and AI skills. Designed for civic and public sector, programs are free and open to all.
TUESDAY, JUNE 23 · 12:00 PM ET: Power, Place, and AI: Energy, Environment, and AI Data Centers With Laura Jay (Climate Mayors), Michael Jung (Oregon Data Center Advisory Committee), and Jessica Shirley (PA Department of Environmental Protection), moderated by Deborah Stine.
Part of the Elephants in the AI Room summer series.
Also coming up:
[ See all workshops → ]
AI for Governance
Drawing on InnovateUS’s Foundations of Leadership workshop series, Anita McGahan argues that the most urgent public-sector leadership challenges in the AI era are often deeply human ones: building psychological safety, creating real teams, giving honest feedback, aligning goals, and helping people perform under uncertainty and organizational change.
Read articleAI for Governance
Kazakhstan is rapidly expanding from digital government into sovereign AI infrastructure, national AI deployment, and AI-enabled public services. But as the country invests in supercomputers, data centers, and nationwide AI education, the piece argues that gaps in access to electricity, internet connectivity, devices, and digital literacy could deepen inequality in the AI era.
Read articleGoverning AI
A new White House executive order creates an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse, launches classified benchmarking for “covered frontier models,” and expands federal AI-enabled cyber defense efforts. The framework also encourages frontier AI firms to share advanced models with the government before public release under a voluntary oversight system.
Read articleGoverning AI
Illinois lawmakers passed a landmark AI bill that would require frontier AI companies to publish safety plans, undergo annual third-party safety audits, and establish whistleblower protections. If signed, the measure would go further than existing AI laws in California and New York by making independent safety audits mandatory.
Read articleAI and Public Engagement
This paper introduces “AI-delegated deliberation,” where AI agents participate in democratic discussions on behalf of human users. The researchers built a public platform called Habermolt to test whether AI representatives can scale participation while still accurately reflecting people’s views and allowing users to revise or correct outputs over time.
Read articleAI and Public Engagement
Analyzing 94 civic participation tools and 11 in-depth case studies, the report distinguishes between the theoretical promise of civic technology and what actually works in practice. It highlights the importance of institutional responsiveness, procedural design, and safeguards around AI deployment, while outlining concrete policy options for connecting citizen input more directly to legislative action.
Read articleAI Infrastructure
The European Commission adopted a new tech sovereignty package aimed at reducing Europe’s reliance on non-EU providers for critical digital infrastructure, data, and technologies. The package includes Chips Act 2.0, the Cloud and AI Development Act, an EU Open Source Strategy, and a roadmap for digitalisation and AI in energy.
Read articleAI Infrastructure
Deborah Stine argues that AI data centers are becoming major governance challenges long before most communities are prepared to manage them. Drawing on fieldwork and recent research, she outlines ten questions public officials should ask about electricity demand, water use, workforce impacts, public trust, environmental risks, and community benefit agreements as AI infrastructure rapidly expands.
Read articleAI Infrastructure
This report argues that cloud sovereignty depends less on domestic ownership and more on interoperability. As Amazon, Microsoft, and Google dominate Canada’s cloud market, the authors call for portability standards, procurement reform, and utility-style regulation to reduce vendor lock-in and increase national agency over AI infrastructure.
Read articleAI and Problem Solving
Published by the New Jersey Big Data Alliance, the Journal of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence combines technical research with broader reflections on how AI is reshaping strategy, education, healthcare, robotics, infrastructure, and labor. Throughout the volume, contributors examine both the practical advances that enable more capable AI systems and the societal questions emerging as these technologies move deeper into institutions and everyday life.
Read articleAI and Education
Ahead of a University of Edinburgh event on democracy and AI, Beth Simone Noveck argues that universities should redefine success around public purpose and societal impact rather than financial metrics alone. She points to Scotland’s strengths in public engagement and higher education as a foundation for rethinking how institutions prepare students for an AI-driven world.
Read articleAI and Labor
The National Science Foundation launched “TechAccess: AI-Ready America,” a nationwide initiative to coordinate AI workforce readiness across states and territories. The program will fund state AI coordination hubs focused on aligning education, workforce training, small business support, and local government AI adoption efforts.
Read article
InnovateUS