Artificial Intelligence
These stories will explore what state and local government officials need to consider when developing policies on the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This will include analysis of where traditional AI, as well as generative AI, can contribute to the mission of government, and what guardrails should be put in place around its use.
Officials say that AI tools will assist, not replace, agency staff and will operate under the state’s Responsible AI Policy.
AI investment is driving the economy, and states want a share. Here’s a look at where the data centers that do the work of AI are located.
By automating tasks like lesson planning, grading and progress tracking, classrooms in North Dakota are freeing up instructor hours.
An NIH-funded study found deep learning tools could forecast next-day relapse risk with high accuracy, giving clinicians time to intervene.
Los Angeles CIO Ted Ross faces many challenges, including a substantially reduced staff, but manages to revamp entire city functions nonetheless.
San Anselmo’s new adaptive system at Marin’s busiest intersection is saving an estimated 90 hours a day in driver wait time.
Lawmakers want to prevent chatbots capable of human-like conversations from encouraging teens to hurt themselves or engaging in sexual interactions with kids.
Mayor Mike Johnston wants city services to run as smoothly as DoorDash, betting that artificial intelligence can make Denver’s government faster and more responsive. Skeptics warn of bias, job loss and misplaced priorities.
AI is being used to create nonsensical, sometimes dangerously inaccurate books. Local librarians are tasked with keeping these volumes out of their collections.
Negotiations over revising the first-in-the-nation law collapsed and now it won’t be enacted until at least June 2026.
California is considering a slew of bills that would penalize smaller companies and squash intervention. Congress should step in.
A yearlong trial across 14 agencies saved an average of 95 minutes per day and improved workflows. Now state officials are broadening access to AI tools as local governments prepare to follow suit.
Floods are frequent, unpredictable and expensive. Fremont, Calif., is one of the first cities to secure flood insurance designed using AI.
Federal lawmakers are expected to return to the idea, despite cutting it from the budget reconciliation bill.
With $29 billion in AI funding in the first half of 2025, San Francisco is seeing office space fill, tech events multiply and public debate intensify over AI’s risks and rewards.
The administration’s strategy accelerates permitting for AI infrastructure while threatening to withhold federal support from states that impose their own rules on ethics, equity, or content standards.
Senators voted 99-1 to strike the ban from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It would have blocked state and local governments from regulating AI for a decade.
Getting ticketed by AI cameras using license plate data was never popular. Now there are concerns about financial mismanagement and a lawsuit between vendors that ran the program in Mississippi.
A provision in the federal budget bill would bar states from taking any action on AI. This would derail careful legislation designed to promote the technology while offering needed safeguards.
Cities are banning landlords from setting rental prices based on algorithms and non-public data, which tenants complain have led to drastic spikes.
There are lessons for other states in Colorado, where policymakers are struggling to walk back legislation that would do more harm than good.
Under pressure from business groups and the governor, the California Privacy Protection Agency watered down AI safeguards in areas such as targeted advertising.
In contrast to what’s going on in Washington, state and local leaders are leveraging the technology to make government genuinely work better.
For now, AI is helping plant operators scan through thousands of pages of compliance documents. Its uses could expand.
Philadelphia, San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif., have also banned algorithms that can lead to price-gouging, with similar proposals brewing in other major cities.
The course of legislation in Virginia and Texas suggests a way forward in regulating AI without stifling innovation.
Trump repealed a Biden order calling for protection against bias. While companies welcome deregulation, some are concerned about the administration's six-month timeline to reshape guidelines.
Some programmers and engineers are willing to forego private-sector pay to find meaningful work. But governments need to be more nimble about hiring.
The Department of Education denied an application from a cyber charter school that would have been part of a multistate network. Classes would have been led by AI tutors with humans serving as “guides.”
AI caused less damage through misinformation or election administration than predicted in 2024. New laws meant to combat political deepfakes, meanwhile, went largely unenforced.
Even the most basic computing tasks require electrical power. The level of computing that drives today’s economy is far from basic.
