Artificial intelligence is quickly making its way into city halls across the country, helping local governments sort service requests, manage information and communicate with residents.

"There was general enthusiasm at first, particularly from elected officials, to try to integrate these tools quickly, to get more organizational efficiency out of them, and to try and scale," said Chris Jordan, program manager for AI and innovation at the National League of Cities.

Jordan helps city leaders navigate AI development through his work at the National League of Cities, which has found that AI tools can be most effective in enhancing city services, supporting employee tasks and helping cities make sense of their data.

With 96% of mayors expressing interest in using generative AI, Jordan said building public trust often comes down to establishing clear, uniform standards, including AI-specific privacy policies and labeling when AI is used in public-facing content.

"Public listening sessions or task forces can also be appropriate for cities to use if there's a general sentiment of anxiety or distrust about certain technologies," he said.

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Some cities are going further when it comes to transparency. Lebanon, New Hampshire, posts a public list of every AI tool it uses, while San Jose conducts an annual review examining how its algorithms affect residents.

"For the most part, constituents want faster and more effective city services that make them feel good about how their tax dollars are being spent," said Joe Scheidler, who is building Helios, an AI tool designed for policy work.

A major hurdle, however, is both the perception and reality that AI systems can make mistakes.

"Workforces do not trust generative AI outputs in many contexts and sensitive use cases. And so we've been really laser focused from a product mission perspective on solving the issue of hallucination, AI drift and baking verification, traceability and provenance into the user experience," Scheidler said.

Despite those concerns, successful use cases are already emerging. Dearborn, Michigan, uses a translation bot to better serve non-English-speaking residents. Washington has tested an AI tool to make its open-data portals easier to search. And Tucsons water department in Arizona uses AI to identify which pipes are most likely to fail before problems occur.

For residents curious about how their city is using artificial intelligence, experts recommend asking questions, attending public meetings and paying close attention to how those tools are explained.

Nearly a quarter of working-age adults have health insurance that leaves them underinsured, according to recent estimates. While having some coverage might seem better than none at all, experts say the potential risks are remarkably similar.

"We always see people who avoid the hospital because of costs," said Dr. Anahita Dua, vascular surgeon, associate professor of surgery, and founder of the medical community coalition Healthcare for Action.

Dua says health care providers are seeing more patients skip or delay care out of fear they won't be able to afford it, even with insurance coverage.

"Patients are concerned that if they come in with their wrists sprained, and then they tell the doctor, 'Well, I sprained my wrist by falling down the stairs,' the doctor might say, 'Well, did you hit your head? We need a CT scan of your head,' which we do," Dua explained.

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The numbers paint a stark picture of America's health care coverage crisis.

In findings from the Commonwealth Fund, roughly 9% of working-age adults are uninsured, but another 23% are underinsured meaning the coverage they pay for doesn't provide affordable access to care.

"What we're really saying is that maybe their deductible is too high. They can't get to that high number before their insurance kicks in," Dua said. "Or their insurance doesn't cover the things that they need. It'll cover one doctor's visit, but not four doctors' visits."

As president of Accessia Health, Tiara Green says she sees this issue firsthand. The nonprofit provides support for people living with rare or chronic health conditions.

"They need access to specialty medications and treatments and specialty providers," Green said. "They become underinsured or considered underinsured when they don't have access to those things."

Green says Accessia Health works to close the gap so patients can access the care they need.

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Dua says free clinics can also help bridge coverage gaps. But most importantly, she urges patients to never delay care.

"The most important thing is your life. Everything can be worked out. Hospitals do eat major costs, so do not delay," Dua said.

The situation may worsen with the expiration of enhanced tax credits for those who purchased plans on the ACA marketplace. Experts fear more new cases of people going uninsured and underinsured.

"It could lead to a number of individuals choosing high-deductible plans that may not necessarily cover their costs and lead to higher out-of-pocket costs," Green said.

Immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota over the weekend are now reverberating far beyond the state. Protesters are now forcing new questions about when, and how, corporate America chooses to speak up.

More than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies including executives from Target, 3M, Best Buy and General Mills signed and released an open letter organized by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce calling for calm and an immediate de-escalation of tensions though the letter did not specifically call out ICE, nor did it directly criticize federal enforcement tactics.

That omission is drawing backlash from immigrant advocates and grassroots organizers, who are urging consumers to pressure or boycott companies they say do business with immigration enforcement agencies. Multiple calls for actions have been circulating online, listing corporations like Amazon, Fedex, and AT&T.

Organizers argue that corporate neutrality isn't neutral at all that companies wield influence over policy through contracts, lobbying and public messaging, leaving companies to decide whether neutrality actually protects their brand, or if silence, or omission becomes its own statement.

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The delicate dance for corporations to balance corporate social responsibility has been a tough one over the last several years some businesses choosing to step up and comment on political issues like the overturn of Roe v. Wade, siding with the desires of their customers. While more recently, weve seen some of these same companies pull back DEI initiatives at the request of the federal government, despite anger from consumers.

In a sharp contrast, several tech CEOs including Apples Tim Cook, were at the White House this weekend for a private-screen of a new Amazon-produced documentary about Melania Trump, underscoring how closely some business leaders remain tied to the administration.