Regulatory Consulting at The Governance Lab (GovLab, NYU)

Overview

The Governance Lab (The GovLab) is an action-research lab working to improve people’s lives by changing how we govern — strengthening the ability of institutions and people to work more openly, collaboratively, effectively, and legitimately. Founded at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, it is now directed by Beth Simone Noveck as a partner project of the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, an important structural update for anyone tracking the organization. Its AI-policy work centers on what Noveck calls ‘Democratic AI’: applying AI to strengthen democratic institutions and improve government performance rather than replace human judgment. The GovLab pioneered the concept of data collaboratives — public-private data exchanges that create public value — through DataCollaboratives.org and partnerships with UNICEF and the Omidyar Network, and it has long trained public servants in data and AI skills through open courses and the InnovateUS program. Noveck’s own credibility is formidable: she served in the White House as head of open government under President Obama (founding the Open Government Initiative), advised Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Digital Council and 10 Downing Street, and was appointed New Jersey’s first Chief Innovation Officer and Chief AI Strategist. She was named to the Center for Public Sector AI’s inaugural ‘AI 50’ list and serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on AI.

AI-Focused Regulatory Work

The GovLab’s argument, made most fully in Noveck’s 2026 book ‘Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy’ (Yale University Press), is that AI’s most important public-sector application may be democratic rather than administrative. In this model AI acts as a facilitator rather than a decision-maker: chatbots guide first-time participants into public processes, natural-language processing clusters similar comments so large-scale deliberation becomes tractable, and agentic systems help coordinate follow-up — all designed with human oversight and transparency at the core. The claimed payoff is concrete: faster service iteration, reduced administrative burden, greater legitimacy because citizens trust processes they help shape, and more equitable outcomes as diverse voices counterbalance institutional blind spots. What makes this more than theory is the delivery infrastructure Noveck has built around it. InnovateUS provides free training in AI, digital, and innovation skills to public-sector professionals nationwide; AI for Impact and the InnovateMA co-op program (with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) put students to work using AI and human-centered design on real public problems; and the Observatory of Public Sector AI and Community-Centered AI projects track and shape how governments actually deploy these tools. Her framing of responsible AI for government rests on three pillars — cybersecurity, data governance, and privacy — aimed at helping agencies improve services without sacrificing public trust. For a directory reader, The GovLab is the most practical bridge between AI-governance theory and the day-to-day capacity of the civil servants who must implement it.

Notable AI Policy Work

• Beth Noveck published ‘Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy’ (Yale University Press, 2026), arguing that combining artificial and collective intelligence can make democratic participation more accessible, scalable, and trustworthy.
• Pioneered the ‘data collaboratives’ concept — public-private data exchanges creating public value — via DataCollaboratives.org and partnerships with UNICEF and the Omidyar Network.
• Runs InnovateUS, a free training program teaching public-sector professionals AI, digital, and innovation skills, plus AI for Impact and the InnovateMA co-op with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
• Operates the Observatory of Public Sector AI and Community-Centered AI projects tracking and shaping government AI deployment, alongside the MacArthur Research Network on Opening Governance.
• Developed ‘Solving Public Problems with Data,’ an open lecture series and MOOC training public servants in data-driven decision-making.
• Noveck’s public-service record informs the lab’s work: White House head of open government, adviser to Merkel’s Digital Council and 10 Downing Street, and New Jersey’s first Chief Innovation Officer and Chief AI Strategist.

Thought Leadership

1. Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy (Yale University Press, 2026)
   Noveck’s 2026 book on ‘Democratic AI’ — how combining artificial and collective intelligence can strengthen democratic participation with human oversight at the core.
2. The GovLab
   The lab’s hub for research on open data, AI in public institutions, digital democracy, and collaborative governance.
3. Unlocking Collective Intelligence: AI’s Role in Enhancing Democracy
   Noveck on AI-augmented public engagement — chatbots, comment clustering, and agentic coordination that make participation more accessible without displacing human judgment.
4. Reboot Democracy (writing & projects)
   Noveck’s ongoing writing plus partner projects: InnovateUS, AI for Impact, the Observatory of Public Sector AI, and Community-Centered AI.

Clients

Works with governments at every level — U.S. federal, state (notably New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), and city governments — plus international institutions. Partners have included UNICEF, the Omidyar Network, and the MacArthur Foundation (Research Network on Opening Governance). Now housed with the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University.