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The Impact A weekly look at the intersection of AI, advocacy, and politics from the team at MFStrategies | www.MFStrategies.com |
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You’re not just running for office. You’re moving people. To believe. To act. To do something that used to feel impossible.
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The Impact Podcast Hosts Addie and Hal break down this week's news in 10 minutes |
| The AI Campaign Playbook Our roadmap for how to implement AI safely and effectively in your organization. |
| Vendor Scorecards Coming soon |
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This week, AI crossed from stunt to standard across campaigns, courts, bases, and classrooms: New York’s judiciary set interim rules, the Army wired 80+ installations for real‑time analytics, and campaigns scaled AI outreach well beyond battlegrounds. The struggle is speed versus control—faster paperwork and lesson plans, but possible AI policing of speech, bias, and cyber exposure—as inboxes flood and the flicker of courtroom monitors replaces slow review. With Congress stalled and the NDAA poised to lock in early definitions, states, agencies, and vendors are quietly becoming the rulemakers, shifting accountability away from elected bodies. Taken together, power is migrating to whoever runs the models; the open question is who owns the rules—and the blame—when they misfire in an election, a courtroom, or the grid. |
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AI / Political News of the Week
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Business Wire Takeaway The U.S. Army awarded Empower AI a contract worth over $200 million to modernize utilities at more than 80 bases. The work adds meters and sensors, real-time analytics, and stronger cybersecurity to energy and water systems. The deal signals DoD is moving AI tools from pilots into core base infrastructure.
Why it matters This makes AI monitoring part of base utilities, moves sensitive energy data to one company, and grows the cyber risk. Others will follow. The big questions: who owns the data, who checks the math, and who pays when outages or costs rise? Closing note: Watch for copycat deals across DoD and GAO/Congress scrutiny tied to cyber events and savings claims. |
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| | | Reuters Takeaway New York’s courts issued an interim AI policy for all judges and staff. It limits use to approved, private models, bans putting confidential filings into public tools, and requires training. The policy stresses bias safeguards and keeps humans responsible for all work.
Why it matters Expect faster paperwork but tighter data locks as New York courts require approved, private AI tools. That shift pushes risk onto court managers and away from vendors, and will spark fights over bias, public records, and blame for errors. Enforcement and appeals will decide if other states follow. |
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| | | The American Prospect Takeaway AI is moving from stunt to standard in campaigns, and it will hit every race, not just battlegrounds. Consultants, organizers, and citizens are using it to write, target, and scale emails, ads, and voter outreach—while conservative activists test tools to mass‑challenge registrations and the Trump administration signals AI‑driven policing of speech. With few rules and heavy industry lobbying, expect more volume, more targeting, and higher risks to voters and speech.
Why it matters Expect a flood of AI-made outreach and attacks across every race, not just battlegrounds. With few rules and big tech lobbying hard, speed beats safeguards—pitting campaigns and vendors against civil rights groups and election officials. If the Trump administration uses AI to police speech, 2026 gets louder—and less free. |
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| | | Nextgov/FCW Takeaway A federal shutdown has frozen Congress on AI, delaying the annual defense bill (NDAA) and GOP-backed AI bills from Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. Agencies have slowed parts of Trump’s AI Action Plan. States like California and Colorado will keep writing the rules in the gap.
Why it matters Expect months of drift: agencies halt AI work while states write the rules. That hands power to governors and vendors, not Congress. The fight shifts to preemption and defense add-ons—speed versus safeguards. The longer the shutdown lasts, the harder a single national standard becomes. |
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| | | War on the Rocks Takeaway As Congress finalizes the NDAA, early AI decisions will set Pentagon policy for decades. The piece flags four forks: who defines “trustworthy” AI, AI’s role beyond war, whether AI augments or reshapes the force, and who holds power—industry or government. Locking these in fast risks brittle rules, industry dependence, and gray-zone escalation.
Why it matters Early NDAA language will lock in who sets AI rules, where it’s used, and whether tech firms or the Pentagon hold power—shaping money, strategy, and how allies follow for years. Missing nuance now risks industry sway, gray zone escalation, and brittle rules that are hard to undo. Track definitions, authorities for gray-zone use, funding priorities, and contractor roles in bill text and report language. Push for sunsets, audits, and clear lines of control. Expect industry-friendly carve-outs and GOP moves to speed deployment with weaker guardrails. |
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| | | WTOP News Takeaway Schools are using AI to save time and give students real-time help. A University of Maryland professor says his students build complex projects faster, while surveys show many teachers save 5–6 hours a week. But teachers worry about cheating and privacy, even as the education AI market grows toward $6B next year.
Why it matters Classrooms adopting AI shift teaching from syntax to supervision, saving hours and widening access—yet push schools toward unproven tools and data risks. Expect fights over grading, cheating, and privacy to move to school boards and unions. Whoever wins defines "learning"; the risk is more monitoring and bigger gaps. |
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Worth thinking about “What is doctrine on day one becomes dogma forever after.” — John Boyd |
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