A Kentucky Town Used AI to Harness Community Input—The Results Were Transformative

A county in Kentucky conducted a groundbreaking civic experiment using artificial intelligence to gather community input on future city planning, resulting in unprecedented public participation. In Bowling Green, the third-largest city in Kentucky and part of Warren County, officials launched a month-long online engagement initiative that drew nearly 8,000 residents—about 10% of the city’s population—to share their vision for the community over the next 25 years. This effort, described by officials as the largest town hall in American history, was made possible by AI tools that processed and analyzed a massive volume of anonymous feedback. Traditional town halls often attract only a small, self-selecting group of residents—typically those with strong grievances—leading to skewed representation. In contrast, the digital platform used in Bowling Green, powered by Pol.is and enhanced with Google’s Jigsaw-developed AI tool Sensemaker, allowed residents to submit ideas anonymously and vote on others’ suggestions. Over 33 days, participants contributed more than a million interactions and shared roughly 4,000 unique ideas, including expanding green spaces, improving pedestrian infrastructure, building new museums, and increasing access to healthcare specialists to reduce reliance on distant medical centers in Nashville. Sensemaker analyzed the data by identifying patterns, categorizing themes, and measuring consensus. The tool revealed 2,370 ideas that at least 80% of respondents agreed on—demonstrating surprising alignment across diverse groups. Notably, the process helped surface priorities from underrepresented communities, including immigrants who could access the survey in multiple languages and have their responses automatically translated. Daniel Tarnagda, an immigrant from Burkina Faso and founder of a youth soccer program for non-English speakers, praised the initiative, saying, “I knew that people want to be part of something. But if you don’t ask, you don’t know.” The project saved local officials an average of 28 workdays compared to manual analysis, according to a Jigsaw survey. Perhaps most significantly, the AI-driven process revealed broad agreement across political lines, challenging the assumption that civic discourse is inherently polarized. Jigsaw CEO Yasmin Green explained that anonymity and data de-identification helped people engage without fear of judgment, allowing them to find common ground. The findings are now being used by volunteers to develop concrete policy recommendations for county leadership by year’s end. Jigsaw has since partnered with the Napolitan Institute to expand the use of AI in understanding national sentiment across all congressional districts, focusing on foundational American values and public perceptions of the country’s direction. Despite its promise, the experiment raises valid concerns. While the Bowling Green survey collected no personal or demographic data, future applications may not be so cautious. Risks include data breaches that could expose sensitive political views, and algorithmic bias—such as the recent discovery that Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot incorporated Musk’s personal opinions into its responses. These issues highlight the need for transparency, oversight, and ethical safeguards. Still, if responsibly implemented, AI-powered civic engagement could transform how communities shape their futures—offering a model for inclusive, data-driven democracy that moves beyond polarization and toward shared solutions.