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​U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Ted Cruz’s “Darkest Before Dawn” Melodrama Misses the Message of the Midterms

Voters in Alaska

What To Know About Alaska’s Election System

Donald Trump

Trump Challenges Election Outcome Despite Earlier Pledge

Marjorie Taylor Greene (

Why Democrats Should (Ironically) Listen to Marjorie Taylor Greene Right Now

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson,

The Unfortunate Decline of Congress as a Deliberative Body

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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Written on a whiteboard: AI?
The letters AI and a question mark written in black marker on a whiteboard
Photo by Nahrizul Kadri on Unsplash

A Democracy That Uses AI Agents Needs Permission Receipts

An organization can correct a faulty AI-generated paragraph in minutes. Repairing the damage after an automated system impersonates a trusted source, emails thousands of people, or changes public records can take much longer. As AI tools gain permission to act, civic institutions need to govern the authority they delegate with the same seriousness they give to the accuracy of an answer.

On October 8, OpenAI reported disrupting covert influence operations linked to Iran and Russia. One operation used seven fabricated journalist identities to place material in outside publications. OpenAI investigators identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under those bylines across roughly a dozen outlets. The operators were humans using AI to refine articles and pitches. That distinction matters: this was deceptive human direction amplified by technology, rather than evidence of independent machine intentions.

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classroom, learning, teaching, class, students

AI literacy isn’t just about jobs. Learn why schools should teach students to question AI outputs, verify claims, and think critically as citizens.

Getty Images, Rafa Fernandez Torres

AI Is Shaping Democracy. Are We Preparing Students?

Almost everyone I know is talking about artificial intelligence. Teacher friends say it helps with administrative tasks, then describe their frustration when students use it to complete assignments. Principals wonder whether teachers are using it effectively. Colleagues past and present worry about how it will shape their students’ lives. And among parents in my kids’ circles, the chatter is mostly about jobs: Do we need AI literacy to stay relevant at work? What does AI mean for our children’s future careers? How much should we trust it?

These questions matter, but I worry we’re missing the plot. AI literacy isn’t only about preparing students to work with AI. It’s about preparing them to live in a democracy increasingly shaped by it.

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Judge's Gavel Hammer as a Symbol of Law and Order with Processor CPU AI Chip.

Anthropic warns of AI botnets seizing the web. A veteran trial attorney argues the solution is simple: unplug the internet and bring back an analog society.

Getty Images, Alexander Sikov

Let the Bots Have the Internet!

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has warned "that a swarm of AI agents soon ‘could be capable of taking over the entire internet with a persistent botnet.’”

Oh, perish the thought! I say, let’s unplug from and discontinue use of the internet. Let the bots roam uselessly on an unused internet and perhaps die a natural death there!

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Arguments or debates, disputes or conflicts, verbal clashes. Angry men and women roar at each other

Getty Images

What If Polarization Is the Wrong Diagnosis?

I just listened to political scientist Lilliana Mason challenge one of the most familiar explanations of what is wrong with American politics.

We are constantly told that America suffers from polarization. Republicans and Democrats have moved too far apart. They distrust each other, increasingly regard one another as enemies, and have lost the ability to compromise. The prescribed remedies are familiar: more civility, more dialogue, less hostility, and a return to the political center.

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