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Both sides are missing the point entirely as Congress debates the proposed 10-year ban on state AI laws contained in the Big, Beautiful Bill. The current wrangling over who should regulate privacy, deepfakes, and bias in AI confuses the forest for the trees because it solely focuses on who decides what we should not do. In contrast, state AI leaders from across the country are gathering this week in New Jersey to ask the critical question: What can we do to responsibly take advantage of powerful AI tools to solve our hardest problems, improve governance, and strengthen democracy? More than just another conference, the June 16 gathering in Princeton of these newly appointed senior AI leaders is a working meeting to produce concrete answers to questions like: What should government build? What should we buy? Who should own and control it? What investments should governments make to ensure we are building the technology to address challenges like climate change, literacy, and the integrity of our democracy? And how do we ensure the tools we put in schools, government agencies, and our communities are designed to improve lives? Since the Cold War, we have viewed technology as either a tool of bureaucratic control and dehumanization or an opportunity for wealth creation and profit. But as federal discourse revolves around unrestricted development or regulation, states are serving as laboratories for democratic AI innovation. So beyond black and white bans, we must expand the debate to include how we can actually improve our institutions with AI. Not just corporate-owned tools like ChatGPT, but AI tools specifically designed from the ground up for government. Ineffective government services have become a political punchline, but a growing number of local governments are using AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of critical services with promising results. State officials in Ohio are using AI to analyze its sprawling administrative code to cut red tape. Two centuries of accumulated regulations have created a confusing warren of obsolete, redundant, and conflicting demands that businesses must navigate, hindering progress. AI helped identify outdated requirements, conflicting rules, and opportunities for modernization including cutting 600,000 words from the building code alone, eliminating 521 rules for defunct lottery games, and moving paper-based processes online. The governors office estimates these changes will save taxpayers $44 million and eliminate 58,000 hours of unnecessary government work over the next decade. Meanwhile, Maryland, Colorado, Hawaii, and New Jersey have been using machine learning to analyze labor market data to provide workers with career and training recommendations tailored to their skills and hopes. In New Jersey, the Department of Labor and the Office of Innovation have used AI to help rewrite emails in plain language, which residents are responding to 35% faster. At its Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters (ANCHOR) property tax relief program hotline, the state’s division of taxation has been using AI tools to analyze calls to generate better self-service menu options so residents can find what they need without waiting to speak to an agent. This has led to a 50% increase in the number of successfully resolved calls. Despite those who believe institutions can be replaced by markets or decentralized networks, democracys survival depends on strong, effective institutions. The task ahead is to harness AIs power to upgrade their capacity, and next week, state leaders will do just that in Princeton. Artificial intelligence holds as much potential to bolster democracy as to harm it. It can incite division, but it can also foster civil discourse. It can spawn disinformation, but also help us identify it. We can choose to use these increasingly ubiquitous tools to reinforce our democracy, mend the tears, and strengthen the bonds. We have built extraordinary tools. But were not yet using them where theyre needed most: to fix our democratic institutions. What if we treated democracy like we treat cancer or carbon? Where is the National Institutes of Health of democratic trust? The Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy of elections? So the debate around AI must extend beyond just regulation, and states are showing what is possible when we think bigger about these powerful tools and use them responsibly. It is time our federal government does so as well.
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E-Commerce
The New York City subway is not a glamorous scene to behold. Between the grime, the crime, and the occasional scurrying rat, it is best experienced in small doses and only when the need arises. Unless, that is, you’re traveling through Grand Army Plaza. As of May this year, anyone passing through the Brooklyn transit hub will be stopped in their tracks by a 7-foot tall, papier-mâché T-Rex looming over what may well be New York City’s most outlandish bodega. Titled Rex’s Dino Store, the bodega is located inside one of the city’s defunct newsstand kiosks. It features newspapers with titles like The Maul Street Journal, Jurassic Park Slope, and various pun-laden products like a Steg-Yun poster and Snarlboro cigarettes, all purchasable with a Master-claw card. [Photo: Megan Armas] Alas, none of the items on display at the bodega are actually for sale, since it is an art installation more akin to a diorama. “We are also glad to bring some whimsy to MTA riders commute,” says artist Sarah Cassidy, who created the project with artist Akiva Leffert. “Even if youre having a bad day, its difficult to resist a good dinosaur pun.” [Photo: Megan Armas] Rex’s Dino Store is the culmination of the MTA’s so-called Vacant Unit Activation Program, which aims to breathe new life into the subway system’s long-empty retail spaces by offering them, rent-free, to artists. Since launching in spring 2024, the program has helped convert 12 previously vacant units across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronxwith half a dozen other locations set to open this summer. But according to Mira Atherton, a senior manager in the MTAs real estate department and the curator of the initiative, Rexs Dino Store marks a turning point for the initiative, which has primarily grown through word-of-mouth. Its in a very visible part of the station, and it’s such a fun and creative and loud activation,” she says. In the past month, Ive gotten so many inquiries from artists. [Photo: Megan Armas] The vacancy struggle The MTA has long struggled to fill its retail spaces. Of the roughly 195 retail units scattered throughout the subway system, only 52 are open for business, reflecting a staggering 75% vacancy rate that has worsened since the pandemic stalled foot traffic. [Photo: Megan Armas] Previous attempts to reinvigorate them have included leasing to coffee kiosks, and ATMs. Some have floated more radical ideas. Assembly member and NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has proposed transforming these unused spaces into crisis and drop-in centers to assist unhoused New Yorkers. His $10 million initiative would fund outreach workers stationed inside empty units, offering immediate care and connecting individuals to longer-term services. Meanwhile, the goal of the Vacant Unit Activation Program is to enchant the transit experience by bringing moments of unexpected delight into the city’s drab underground corridors. Might these art installations eventually attract paying tenants? Atherton says that hasnt happened yetbut its not off the table. And if a commercial partner does express interest in a location, the art installations dont necessarily have to go the way of the T-Rex. “The hope is it will inspire retailersbut that could work for an entire corridor rather than a single unit,” she says, noting that some subway stations have more than one vacant unit. [Photo: Megan Armas] A problem with a solution Atherto was entrusted with the project in January 2023. At the time, she says, the vacancies were “a problem with no solution.” First, she considered launching a design challenge for architecture and design students, or bringing on a master tenant to program the spaces, but ultimately, she landed on an open call for artists and cultural organizations. It launched in November 2023 with a purposefully non-prescriptive brief. “We don’t want to say ‘this is what you should do,'” says Atherton. “The point is that the MTA doesn’t know. I would have never thought of putting a dinosaur in a bodega.” (The program is entirely separate from the better-known MTA Arts & Design initiative, which has its own budget and commissions permanent mosaics, murals, and digital works across various subway stations.) [Photo: Megan Armas] The first installation opened in May 2024 and was created by artist Natalie Collette Wood, in partnership with the nonprofit ChaShaMa. Titled Urban Oasis: Nature in Transit, it was located at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, where Collette Wood transformed an empty store into a lush, plant-filled terrarium, granting New Yorkers an unexpected pocket of calm in Midtown Manhattan. At the time of writing, a total of eight stations feature active art installations, each with their own focus and flair. At 50th Street, in Manhattan, an installation titled Safe Space by artist Traci Johnson imagines a pink, plush interior designed to provide the comfort of a mothers womb. At 81st Street, near the Museum of Natural History, an interactive piece called SoundBooth invites passersby to plug in their instruments for a spontaneous busking session. And at Jackson HeightsRoosevelt Avenue, the Queens-based nonprofit Los Herederos has turned a former retail unit into a vibrant, community-inspired space that doubles as a home base for their web radio station, LH Radio. [Photo: Megan Armas] A play on the subway? This summer, new installations are coming to Jay StreetMetroTech and Sterling Street stations, both in Brooklyn. A new project will also replace Urban Oasis at 53rd Street, offering a fresh perspective on the same stretch of corridor. And later this year, if all goes to plan, Atherton hopes to unveil her most ambitious idea inside a long-abandoned unit at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The idea? An as-of-yet-undefined collaboration with a theater group called Jewel Box, which already hosts plays in a speakeasy-style room. “There’s a ton of vacant space that’s difficult to program because the electrical systems are outdated and the power supply is very limited,” she says, but she’s determined to get creative. At Grand Army Plaza, the MTA had to undertake some construction to make the kiosk usable. Cassidy and Leffert faced several challenges and bureaucratic hurdles, from securing artist insurance to fireproofing the materialsincluding Rex himselfbut they say the delays only gave them more time to sculpt a better dinosaur. (The entire installation cost about $5,000 out of pocket.) Initially, the pair had proposed an immersive sound installation, but the MTA rejected the idea on safety grounds. Sound equipment, for example, would require live supervision, and there was no budget for that. So, they went back to the drawing board. The kiosk already had a newsstand with a countertop and shelving in place, so the cogs started turning. “A bodega on the moon? A bodega for cats? It was an old bodega. So how old was it? A bodega for dinosaurs?” From there, Cassidy says, “the puns started to write themselves.”
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E-Commerce
Generative AIand the velocity of its evolutionis forcing every breed of designer to contemplate a future without them. Will Midjourney and DALL-E eliminate the need for graphic designers? Will Claude and Gemini obviate the UX lead? What happens to motion artists in a world where Sora supposedly becomes the newest auteur? We’re no sages. And were certainly not clairvoyant. But we can comfortably say that, even if an AI-driven design industry apocalypse is coming, it hasn’t arrived yet. Our second annual report on the state of the design industry draws from a dataset of 176,000 job listings weve gathered on Google Jobs (which consolidates listings from across the internet, including Indeed, LinkedIn, and regional job boards) from October 2023 to February 2025. They span several design disciplines: graphic, interior, game, urban, UX, product, and architectural. The clearest and perhaps most reassuring takeaway this year? Designers are still needed. Graphic and UX design job postings are flat from last year, game design postings are up, and urban design postings are way up. Only architects and product designers saw a dip, with postings for the latter down 24% from last year. So its not time yet to abandon that art or architecture degree in order to become a prompt engineer. Still, several things have definitely changed since our last report. Austin has become less of a magnet for architects and urban designers. Canva, software that had initially been met with skepticism among professionals in the industry even just a few years ago, is becoming a mainstay in the graphic designer’s arsenal. And UX designers arehallelujahgaining a bit more job security. Heres what Fast Company found. {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} {"blockType":"immersive-block-embed","data":{"embedSource":"","backgroundColor":"","paddingTop":0,"paddingBottom":0,"paddingLeft":0,"paddingRight":0,"mediaType":"ceros"}} MethodologyWe extracted jobs from the Google Jobs search module monthly from October 2023 to February 2025, resulting in 26,624 jobs when duplicates were removed. We used a combination of Gemini and manual tech token search to extract information on salary, company type, and software tool usage. The categorization of jobs as full-time or contract/internship and their geographic locations were contained as separate structured fields in Google’s data. Monthly and hourly salaries were standardized to yearly rates by multiplying the rate by 12 for monthly salaries, and by 2,080 for hourly salaries.This article is part of Fast Company‘s continuing coverage of where the design jobs are.
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E-Commerce
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