News That Caught Our Eye #75

Published on September 11, 2025

Summary

Giulio Quaggiotto reports on Vietnam’s pioneering use of “Applied AI” to build a learning culture among civil servants. We highlight a new workshop series on the how-to's of AI-enabled democratic engagement and why we should use AI to produce more meaningful participation. A RAND-led analysis probes the opportunities for AI-enabled policymaking, and New Jersey launches a generative AI tool to simplify permits. The UN calls for global AI guardrails beyond market forces, and Senator Cruz introduces a deregulation-first “SANDBOX Act.” Meanwhile, debates heat up on public AI infrastructure. Read more in this week’s News That Caught Our Eye.

Upcoming InnovateUS Workshops

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.

InnovateUS Workshops

Why Public Engagement?
September 11, 2025, 3:00 PM ET
Beth Simone Noveck, Founder of InnovateUS and Chief AI Strategist, New Jersey, Danielle Allen, Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation, Harvard Kennedy School
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Beyond Translation: Human-Centered Language Access with AI
September 15, 2025, 2:00 PM ET
Barbara Niveyro, Bilingual Content Design Lead, Office of Innovation for the State of New Jersey, Ruthie Nachmany, Product Manager, Office of Innovation for the State of New Jersey
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Leveraging Artifical Intelligence to Enroll in Federal and State Benefits
September 17, 2025, 2:00 PM ET
Alister Martin, Senior Fellow, The Burnes Center for Social Change
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InnovateUS Workshop Series

Curated by experts and focused on specific themes, these workshops are free. Attend one or all

Public Engagement for the AI Era
Learn how to design effective and efficient AI-enhanced citizen engagement that translates public input into meaningful outcomes. Hosted by Reboot Democracy and the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at Harvard. Begins September 11.
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AI for Law Enforcement
Aimed at law enforcement and public safety professionals builds foundational knowledge and best practices for responsible AI deployment in policing. Hosted by the State of NJ and the Rutgers Miller Center on Policing and Community. Begins September 4.
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Amplify: Mastering Public Communication in the AI Age
Explore how AI tools—when used responsibly and transparently—can strengthen communication, broaden outreach, and counter disinformation. Hosted by former New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson and John Wihbey, Director of the AI-Media Strategies Lab (AIMES Lab) at Northeastern University. Begins Oct 7.
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Other Events

Governing with Artificial Intelligence: OECD Conference Explores Tools, Standards, and Democratic Values
September 18, 2025, 2:00-3:30pm CEST
The OECD will release a report on Governing with Artificial Intelligence drawing on 200 AI use cases across 11 government functions to examine how AI is improving productivity, responsiveness, and accountability in the public sector.
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Thinking Outside the Ballot Box
September 30th, 2025 at 3:30PM ET
How do we design democratic processes capable of managing vast, complex sets of alternatives like all possible policies or citizen statements? Harvard Professor Ariel Procaccia will present a new framework at the Northeastern University Network Science Institute called generative social choice which combines social choice theory with large language models to shows how AI can help identify fair, diverse, and accountable outcomes.
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AI for Governance

Governing with AI: Learning the How-To’s of AI-Enhanced Public Engagement

Beth Simone Noveck on September 8, 2025 in Reboot Democracy Blog

The Burnes Center and GovLab have launched a new Reboot Democracy Workshop Series to train public leaders in using AI for meaningful, efficient civic engagement. Drawing from real-world challenges, like the collapse of Singapore’s ambitious participatory initiative, this hands-on series replaces lectures with practical how-to. Beth Noveck makes the case for “combinatorial democracy,” where AI lowers the cost and complexity of public participation.

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AI for Governance

Work with What You Have: How Vietnam is Using AI to Encourage a Learning Culture Among Public Servants

Giulio Quaggiotto on September 10, 2025 in Reboot Democracy

While frontier labs chase AGI, Vietnam is pioneering “Applied AI” for pragmatic public sector reform. Facing budget constraints and language barriers, the Academy of Public Administration and Governance (APAG) has used AI to contextualize global best practices. The project focuses on translating international lessons into actionable policy insights and training civil servants to use AI critically and effectively. The result is a shift toward systemic reform through locally adapted, AI-enabled knowledge sharing, and what Vietnamese civil servant Ms. Pham Thi Quynh Hoa calls “learning to ride the waves rather than being drowned by them.”

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AI for Governance

Putting AI-Enabled Policymaking into Practice

Dane Gambrell on September 9, 2025 in Reboot Democracy

A new analysis based on a workshop co-hosted by RAND, the Stimson Center, and the Tony Blair Institute explores how AI can enhance policymaking by automating routine tasks and expanding access to analytical tools. But it also warns that structural barriers, from limited case studies to gaps in oversight and capacity, are slowing adoption in government. The report calls for more real-world pilots, human-centered safeguards, and strategic approaches to building the skills and infrastructure needed for responsible AI use in governance.

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Governing AI

UN Releases Global AI Governance Report, Calls for Guardrails Beyond Market Forces

News Staff on September 3, 2025 in AP News

The United Nations has released the final report of its High-Level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence, calling for a global governance framework rooted in human rights, democratic accountability, and sustainability. The report warns that “the stakes are too high to rely only on market forces and a fragmented patchwork of national and multilateral action.” It recommends the creation of two new institutions: an Independent Scientific Panel on AI and a Global Dialogue on AI Governance to guide international cooperation.

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Governing AI

Sen. Cruz Introduces AI Framework and “SANDBOX Act” to Promote U.S. AI Innovation

News Staff on September 10, 2025 in U.S. Senate Commerce Committee

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has unveiled a five-part legislative framework to guide federal AI policy, emphasizing deregulation and American leadership. The framework’s first legislative proposal—the SANDBOX Act—would allow AI developers to apply for waivers from existing federal rules, creating a regulatory sandbox coordinated by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The proposal builds on state-level sandbox models in Utah and Arizona and echoes recommendations from the July 2025 White House AI Action Plan.

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Governing AI

Google Antitrust Ruling Shows How Tech Can Outpace Enforcement

Jody Godoy on September 4, 2025 in Reuters

A U.S. judge ruled that Google maintains an illegal monopoly over search but declined to break up the company, citing rising competition from generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. The decision ordered Google to stop exclusive deals and share some search data but stopped short of structural remedies. Critics warn the ruling reflects a growing gap between the pace of AI-driven market shifts and the tools available to regulate them.

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AI Infrastructure

Why Public AI Infrastructure Matters Now More Than Ever

Si Ying Thian on September 4, 2025 in GovInsider

This visual explainer outlines the urgent case for investing in public AI infrastructure as a counterweight to tech monopolies. It breaks down how government-owned data centers, compute access, and open models can strengthen digital sovereignty, lower costs, and ensure AI capabilities serve public needs, not just commercial interests. The piece draws on recent examples from Singapore, UAE, and the EU to show how public infrastructure can anchor democratic innovation.

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AI and Elections

U.S. Increasingly Exposed to Chinese Election Threats as Intelligence Staff Cuts Mount

Julian Barnes on September 5, 2025 in The New York Times

Democratic lawmakers are raising the alarm that severe staff reductions at a critical intelligence unit charged with defending U.S. elections, and countering foreign influence, are leaving the system dangerously exposed. The cuts come at a particularly fraught time, as Chinese actors are reportedly leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance information warfare, raising the stakes on election interference and democratic resilience.

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AI and Education

AI Is Everywhere in Higher Ed. Where’s the AI Governance?

Aviva Legatt on September 3, 2025 in Forbes

From personalized advising bots to AI-generated syllabi, artificial intelligence is already woven into the fabric of higher education. As of spring 2025, fewer than 40% of U.S. colleges and universities had formal AI acceptable-use policies in place. This lack of guidance is raising concerns about transparency, academic integrity, and student trust.

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AI and Public Engagement

How New Jersey Built an AI Tool to Help Businesses Get Permits Faster

Katherine B. Nammacher on September 9, 2025 in Technical.ly

New Jersey’s Office of Innovation is using generative AI to streamline the creation of plain-language business permit instructions on business.nj.gov. Katherine B. Nammacher explains how the Permit Drafter tool saves time by converting dense regulatory research into accessible drafts using a multi-step prompt chain with large language models. Offering a replicable model for other states aiming to enhance digital service delivery with AI.

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