MuckRock has used public records and a growing community of concerned citizens to investigate these growing uses and abuses of technology by police departments, schools, and other government agencies. Contributing to greater transparency only takes a minute, just long enough to let us know that you care about knowing what’s happening in your town.

An interim report released earlier this month by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence says the U.S. will lose important advantages in defense, human resources, and the economy if it doesn’t cooperate with industry and academia to prioritize progress in AI research and development.

Over the past decade, MuckRock has grown from a simple records request tool to a network of open source platforms that help journalists, researchers, and the public better understand how the world around them works. Help define our next ten years with one of two positions we’ll be hiring for in the coming months.

We are excited to share that Meredith Broussard, associate professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University and the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World, has joined the board of the MuckRock Foundation.

Palantir, a data mining startup based in Silicon Valley, will be handling initial delivery of the U.S. Army’s battlefield intelligence network, the Pentagon confirmed earlier this year, positioning the company to influence the Army’s long-term implementation of its artificial intelligence priorities.

If you’re in Austin and at the International Symposium on Online Journalism this Friday and Saturday, come say hi to MuckRock. Michael Morisy will be presenting Saturday as part of a panel on the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning on journalism. Dylan Freedman and Kiera Murray will also be attending the conference.

In this week’s FOIA round-up, the Pentagon is blocking requests related to Google’s work on military drones, Antifa are labeled as terrorists in an intelligence report given out to law enforcement, and officials in Virginia’s Arlington County are giving advance warning to Amazon about FOIA requests.

Algorithms and artificial intelligence are playing an ever-increasing role in the lives of all Americans. MuckRock, in collaboration with the the Rutgers Institute for Information Policy and Law is building a catalogue of the algorithms and AI being considered, used, and regulated by local, state, and federal governments. Your help is vital to our effort and only needs to take a few minutes!

The United States is committing to a broad program of artificial intelligence to maintain the country’s industry lead and modernize the military, the White House announced in an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump on February 11th.

Axon, one of the most prominent suppliers of tech tools to law enforcement, is shifting from selling its signature Tasers to embedding artificial intelligence in police departments around the country