# Jennifer Pahlka on Reforming Government for the AI Era

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160/jennifer-pahlka-on-reforming-government-for-the-ai-era
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160/jennifer-pahlka-on-reforming-government-for-the-ai-era.md
Podcast: [The AI Policy Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160)
Published: 2026-02-05T14:56:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/CSIS9063680554.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/CSIS9063680554.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160/episodes/jennifer-pahlka-on-reforming-government-for-the-ai-era
Duration seconds: 4200

## Resource

In this special episode recorded at Fathom’s 2026 Ashby Workshops, Greg sits down with Jennifer Pahlka, founder of Code for America and author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Jennifer walks us through her career journey, from filing paperwork at a child welfare agency to helping pioneer the U.S. Digital Services in the Obama administration (3:45). She describes the need for upstream policy reform (11:29), and discusses AI’s potential to both empower public servants to challenge antiquated practices and help policymakers simplify complex regulations (28:03). Finally, Jennifer shares some AI use cases she’s particularly excited about in government (59:34). Jennifer Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and the Federation of American Scientists and a senior advisor at the Abundance Network. She previously served as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer, helping start the U.S. Digital Services under the second Obama administration, and as a member of the Defense Innovation Network. Read Jennifer’s book Recoding America and check out her Substack Eating Policy. Jennifer’s recommended reading: Hack Your Bureaucracy by Marina Nitze & Nick Sinai Crisis Engineering by Marina Nitze, Matthew Weaver, & Mikey Dickerson The Procedure Fetish by Nicholas Bagley Why Nothing Works by Marc J. Dunkelman Kill It with Fire by Marianne Bellotti

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160/episodes/jennifer-pahlka-on-reforming-government-for-the-ai-era/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-policy-podcast-6758160/jennifer-pahlka-on-reforming-government-for-the-ai-era.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.