korrents
Jennifer Pahlka

What Jennifer Pahlka thinks about government

@jennifer-pahlka · 23 positions · 0 changes of mind

Author of Recoding America; founded Code for America and was US deputy chief technology officer from 2013 to 2014.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Jennifer Pahlka did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

7 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Jennifer Pahlka has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingRising AI capability is undermining the assumptions that justify slow, manual government processes.

    Their wordsAI creates a crisis by making the assumptions on which government operates untenable.

    ↗The Crisis We've Been Waiting Foreatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  3. Our readingAs AI capabilities rise, government excuses of cost, difficulty, and slowness will increasingly look like choices rather than constraints.

    Their wordsThings government has long explained as difficult, expensive, or slow are going to look increasingly like choices.

    ↗The Crisis We've Been Waiting Foreatingpolicy.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  4. 4 weeks earlier

  5. Our readingPhilanthropy can never operate at the scale of government, no matter how well-funded it becomes.

    Their wordsEven with the influx of funding that may come with the AI companies' IPOs, philanthropy can never act at the scale of government.

    ↗Thinking the unthinkableeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  6. 3 weeks earlier

  7. Our readingAI is raising public expectations of government service at the same time it changes what government must deliver.

    Their wordsEvery state, and the federal government right along with them, is about to be asked to do a lot more than keep the lights on.

    ↗North Carolina’s bold move on civil serviceeatingpolicy.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  8. 4 weeks earlier

  9. Our readingGovernment controls both the resources and the legitimacy needed for large-scale change.

    Their wordsGovernment is where the literal money is (money that could often go much further if we fixed what's wrong with government), but it's also where the impact is. And it's where the legitimacy is.

    ↗Philanthropy’s Willie Sutton Problemeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  11. Our readingWhen government cannot keep pace with technology, the companies building it make the consequential decisions instead of elected representatives.

    Their wordsWhen government can't act at the speed of the technology, the consequential decisions still get made, but by the companies building it rather than the public's representatives.

    ↗Philanthropy’s Willie Sutton Problemeatingpolicy.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  12. 8 weeks earlier

  13. Our readingAI is raising the baseline of what counts as acceptable public service, not just disrupting government from outside.

    Their wordsAI is not only an exogenous shock that government will have to absorb. It is also moving the bar on what counts as acceptable service in the first place.

    ↗A (shorter) Three Horizons Framework for Government Reformeatingpolicy.com 1st of 3 in this piece