From Pilots to Playbooks: How Governments Are Scaling AI (and What Could Break)

This week on The Impact, Hal and Addie trace how governments are moving from scattered AI pilots to playbooks that shape budgets, jobs, and even the power grid. They break down GAO’s nearly 100 new federal AI requirements, Seattle’s ban on emotion-reading and social scoring, and state wins like Austin’s permit streamlining and California’s traffic safety models. The conversation covers Senator Cruz’s fast-lane sandbox bill with its accountability gaps, Ottawa’s plan to cut and retrain public service roles while publishing a registry of AI projects, and Pennsylvania’s looming data-center boom that could stress the PJM grid. The thread is clear: inventories, guardrails, and energy planning now decide whether AI adoption builds trust or backlash.