Recently, we have been hearing about how artificial intelligence (A.I.) may be dangerous.  One year ago, Forbes reported that Elon Musk and hundreds of technologists, entrepreneurs, and researches called on A.I. labs to pause work on “powerful A.I. systems.”

But, just yesterday, I discovered an exciting tool, CitizenPortal, which harnesses the power of A.I. to aid ordinary citizens — especially patriotic activists and citizen-journalists — in researching and monitoring the speech of local, state, and national officials on a myriad of topics so they can hold them to account.

After watching ski races on YouTube, I clicked on a December 2023 Glenn Beck interview for Glenn TV (ep. 321) with Paul Allen, the co-founder and former CEO of Ancestry.com, about his new project.  The description of the program on YouTube reads, “CitizenPortal is proof that while A.I. certainly should never have free rein, it also CAN be used for good.”

Further explanation of CitizenPortal is on the home page of the CitizenPortal website.  “Your A.I. Partner for Transparent Government.  See what politicians are saying about issues important to you.  Search by word or phrase.  CitizenPortal puts A.I. to good use — enabling transparency and accountability in federal, state and local government.  The American Public empowered.”

What a great concept: empowering Americans by providing them with easy access to government information, powered by A.I.

Tech entrepreneur Paul Allen joined Glenn Beck to talk about CitizenPortal.  Beck began by stating, “This is the first technology that I think is now using the power that technology has given us the right way. ... This is the first time, I think, somebody is actually showing something that is easy to use, will focus on the things I want it to focus on, it costs me no time.  It’s fantastic.  Explain what CitizenPortal is.”

Allen prefaced his explanation by saying he is a patriot who values the USA as it was founded, and he wants to be a good citizen.  “Well, this country needs — badly — a database of every word spoken by every public servant in every public meeting, and we’re on the path to do that.  We’re in the early days.  This is less than one year old.”

He remembered the early days of Ancestory.com and then said about CitizenPortal, “What’s coming is very exciting because every person is a citizen of your city, your county, your state.”  He started talking about everything the portal can include concerning government and got revved up with a long list, beginning with constitutions and constitutional conventions.

In August of 2023, Eric Wilson did a podcast with Allen for The Business of Politics Show.  A description of the podcast reveals the real value of CitizenPortal in a quote from Allen: “I think it’s a really good time for Americans to say, let’s lean into A.I. as citizens to hold our representatives accountable and to make sure that what they say they actually do and what they do actually works.”

I tried CitizenPortal out by inputting a subject that is controversial in my state: the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).  Out came 12 results for one state, Colorado.  I clicked on the state represented in a map of the USA.  Up came 15 state results, eight counties with results, and seven city results on which I could click.  I chose my county, which is Jefferson, and received videos from two different cities’ city council meetings and an audio recording from a telephone town hall for the Jefferson County Board for County Commissioners.  The videos and audio zeroed in on the point at which TABOR was being discussed.

Next, I input a current topic, “gender transition,” and searched that.  Up came video of discussions at three different legislative days and a Board of Education meeting at one school district.

Another search was for a politician: Governor Jared Polis.  In all the states, 371 results came up, and I could choose to click on another state to see what my governor was saying there.  In Colorado, 21 results came up with the choice to view them all or to see them by county.  I clicked on Jefferson County and received three results, which were a video at a Lakewood City Council meeting where someone talked about the governor, an article with an interview of the governor in another city, and a video of Governor Polis speaking at a Colorado law enforcement memorial.

I then searched “TikTok” and received 8,684 results on the federal level, in multiple committees, and in all four branches of the federal government.  Also, I received multiple results in about every state, and 177 in Colorado, specifically.

You can see that CitizenPortal represents a positive use of A.I. that will benefit many regular Americans now and in the future.  Try this tool for yourself.  You may be amazed.

C.S. Boddie writes for Meadowlark Press, LLC.

Image via Pexels.