How Governments Are Buying AI Now
Governments and public bodies have many ways of acquiring AI tools: enterprise licenses, pilots, features embedded in software they already use, and heavily discounted offers built for the public sector. Each path solves some problems while carrying consequences for cost, flexibility, and the degree of control a government keeps over its own systems and data. This session maps how AI is entering public institutions today and what those acquisition choices set in motion. Participants will look at the patterns that shape this market, including deep discounting, centralized purchasing, closed ecosystems, and the unmanaged adoption of tools by staff, and consider how different options can either narrow or improve the future delivery of public services and government operations.
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Understand the ways AI is currently acquired and used in government.
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Recognize how common acquisition choices affect cost, flexibility, and control over data, models, and workflows.
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Identify where governments retain leverage to shape what they buy rather than accept default terms.
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Assess how a current or recent AI acquisition in their own context is likely to shape their options going forward.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…Coming UpWhat is Public and Democratic AI and Why it Matters
A growing set of efforts argues that the public should have a more direct stake in how AI systems are built and overseen. This idea travels under several names, public AI and democratic AI among them. At its core, this idea calls for greater public involvement…
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…Coming UpPutting Public and Democratic AI into Practice
This closing session looks at concrete examples of how public institutions have used, built, or bought AI in ways that keep meaningful control in public hands. Participants will examine the choices that made these efforts work, what they required in money, ski…
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…Governing and Funding Public AI: Standards, Oversight, and Sustainable Investment
Bring together procurement, infrastructure, and governance to identify practical next steps for building durable public AI capacity.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…AI Sovereignty: Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and Beyond
Compare international approaches to shared AI infrastructure, governance, and national capacity—and what they mean for U.S. institutions.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…State and Local Pathways to Building and Buying Public AI
Learn from concrete examples of how governments are designing modular, model-agnostic systems and embedding public values through procurement.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…The Public Option: Rethinking AI Infrastructure for the Common Good
Explore models for shared and open AI infrastructure that promote competition, reduce costs, and align innovation with public needs.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…What Is Public AI and Why It Matters
This session defines what “public AI” means and the arguments for how governments can take an active role in shaping it.
Democratic and Public AI: Practical Strategie…How Governments Are Buying AI Now: Opportunities, Risks, and Leverage
Examine how AI is entering government today—and how procurement and architecture choices shape control, risk, and long-term flexibility.