Artificial Intelligence can streamline public comment for federal agencies

"We need you to get out there and -- for once in your life -- focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction." Oliver's urging of viewers to exercise their civic rights came during the Federal Communication Commission's public comment period for the pending Net Neutrality rules in 2014, which would have a profound impact on the future development of the Internet. Within hours of the TV show host's rant, the FCC's capacity to accept public comments online crashed, highlighting just how ill-prepared the system was to handle any meaningful level of civic participation. The FCC's comment consideration schedule for Net Neutrality rules consequently was seriously delayed. Six hundred staff lawyers at the Commission subsequently spent nearly nine months to gather, divvy up, read, and categorize what eventually totaled 4 million public responses to the proposed rules, costing taxpayers an estimated 4 million.