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Citizens in Name Only: What the Supreme Court Can’t Fix

Citizens in Name Only: What the Supreme Court Can’t Fix

Rioters breach Capitol security Jan. 6

Trump’s 1776 Slush Fund Shows a New Level of Executive Abuse

Podcast: David Bornstein on solutions journalism

Podcast: David Bornstein on solutions journalism
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumMay 04, 2022
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
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David Bornstein is co-founder and CEO of the Solutions Journalism Network. He’s a journalist and author who focuses on social innovation, and his books include How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, The Price of a Dream: The Story of the Grameen Bank, and Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know. Listen to his thought-provoking conversation on "Civic Genius" on how journalism can spread good ideas and why more public funding for local news could strengthen our information ecosystem.

David Bornstein on Solutions Journalism

David Bornstein is co-founder and CEO of the Solutions Journalism Network. He’s a journalist and author who focuses on social innovation, and his books include...


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For Imre Huss, Fixing Democracy Starts With Talking to a Stranger
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Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

For Imre Huss, Fixing Democracy Starts With Talking to a Stranger

The Democracy Architects Council, presented by The Bridge Alliance Education Fund and Civics Unplugged, offers a paid, one-year fellowship for eight fellows ages 18 to 28, each selected for their work across a distinct sector of democratic life.

The youngest member of the Democracy Architects Council is building AI-powered civic tech, but he says the real work of democracy still happens face to face.

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Democratic Autopsy and AI

After every defeat, organizations conduct autopsies. The good ones are honest, like NASA’s Rogers Commission report after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff. In addition to identifying the infamous O-rings as the proximal culprit, it looked at organizational culture, communication failures, normalization of risk, management pressures, and institutional blind spots. The best ones are uncomfortable, and make a serious effort to understand “why did we mess this up so badly?” I’ve personally seen both good “autopsies” and bad ones throughout my decades of experience in true life-or-death realms: the SEAL Teams and as an Emergency Medicine physician.

Following the 2024 election, the Democratic National Committee produced a lengthy report titled Build to Win. Build to Last. Yet it is not a serious document because it does nothing to prepare for the unstoppable and very near future staring us right in the face. It is nearly 200 pages long and attempts to explain what went wrong and how the party should prepare for the future. It discusses organizing, communications, coalition building, fundraising, digital strategy, and voter outreach. It is filled with references to data, analytics, and technology.

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My Generation Can Spot the Deepfake. That’s Not Enough.
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My Generation Can Spot the Deepfake. That’s Not Enough.

Thomas Massie, a seven-term Republican congressman from Kentucky, lost his primary on May 19. The race cost $32.6 million, making it the most expensive congressional primary in U.S. history. Among the weapons deployed against him: an AI-generated video showing him checking into a hotel room with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, with their hands clasped. The narrator called it "worse than adultery." A disclaimer at the bottom of the screen, in small text, read: "This satirical ad was created with artificial intelligence."

I watched the ad. It looks ridiculous. The movements are slightly too smooth, the lighting is off, and the scenario is so cartoonish that I genuinely could not tell at first whether it was meant to be taken seriously. But I'm 17, and I've spent the last four years watching AI-generated content get better in real time. I know what the seams look like. Massie, in his post-loss interview on Meet the Press, was blunt about who the ad actually reached: "It was actually very effective on the boomers."

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AI is unpopular yet widely used. Explore how citizen-led “crackpot schemes” could shape AI policy, protect jobs, strengthen democracy, and maximize AI’s benefits while reducing its risks.

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In Defense of “Crackpot Schemes” for AI Governance

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