PM in the News: “Massachusetts’ AI program is more than meets the eye”

Jonathan Gerhardson, “Massachusetts’ AI program is more than meets the eye,” Shoestring, April 8, 2026.

The announcement has been met with controversy. State Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven (D-Somerville), who among elected officials has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal, points to a lack of clear privacy protections in the contract and alleged conflicts of interest by the advisory board which recommended OpenAI. And Jonathan Cohn, policy director for Progressive Massachusetts, said the governor did not engage with state employees to gauge whether the tools would actually be helpful before committing to the OpenAI contract. 

“She seemed proud to be the first state to do this, when no one was clamoring to do this,” he told The Shoestring.

Follow-up links & actions to Webinar “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”

Thank you so much for joining our webinar on Wednesday “Spring Forward: Privacy and Power: Protecting Our Digital Rights and Democracy”! And thank you to our great speaker, Kade Crockford from the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc.

https://youtu.be/wHi4nsmLjjc

And here are the follow-up links from Kade: 

  1. ACLU presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1G9hEyXj0-3IMz16f9ctnPXQaiP7NO_bZ/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108538486946816465140&rtpof=true&sd=true
  2. ACLU resources on privacy: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/data-privacy-now/
    1. Includes talking points
    2. Action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/pass-enforceable-data-privacy-legislation
  3. ACLU resources on facial recognition: https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/press-pause-face-surveillance/
  4. ACLU blog on license plate readers in MA: https://data.aclum.org/2025/10/07/flock-gives-law-enforcement-all-over-the-country-access-to-your-location/
    1. Local level action: https://mobilize.aclum.org/a/email-your-municipal-leaders-flock

Hope to see you at an upcoming event!