Most Americans are now familiar with partisan billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s plot to funnel $420 million to thousands of local election offices in 2020, using the once-obscure Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL) in Chicago. CTCL marketed its Zuck Buck grants as a way to shore up budget constraints and help Americans vote during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.