BetaBagels 017: Building Civic AI for NYC’s Open Government
October 23 @ 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT
Can you trust what an AI tool tells you about New York State or City government?
For this late-afternoon bagels session, we will show you how to ask AI tools about a Council bill, a city contract, or a 311 complaint, and how to avoid wrong answers. We’ll also profile some civic AI literacy programs you can take to your community. We want you to stay informed and know how to stay safe.
For BetaBagels 017, we’re going virtual to look at the tools being built to address hallucinations and misinformation. We’ll recap the City Council’s 10-hour October 5 hearing on the risks of AI. Then we’ll demo CivicAITools.org, an open-source project that checks AI answers against public data (see the code on GitHub), and BetaNYC’s open MCP servers, which connect AI assistants to Council legislation, the City Record, Checkbook NYC, 311, and more. We’ll close with your questions.
This event is free, on Zoom, and will be recorded. Everyone who attends is eligible to join our BetaBuilders Discord server.
Do you have a civic AI tool we should look at next? Let us know, and we’ll follow up.
Then, bring your questions & we hope to get some good answers.
About BetaBagels
Since 2018, BetaBagels has brought BetaNYC’s community together with the people building New York’s public interest technology. Guests have included teams from the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, the MTA Open Data team, the City Council’s Committee on Technology, and community boards in Brooklyn and Queens. BetaBagels usually meets over coffee and bagels. This one is online at lunchtime, so bring your own.
Watch past conversations on BetaNYC’s YouTube channel.
Event details
- Date: Friday, October 23, 2026
- Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm ET
- Location: Online, on Zoom
- Cost: Free
- Register: beta.nyc/e261023-rsvp
Joining BetaBuilders
Attending qualifies you for BetaBuilders, BetaNYC’s member community on Discord. After the event, we’ll email a one-time invite link to the address you register with. Use the email you’ll use for future BetaNYC events: each event you attend with it renews your access, which lasts 90 days.
Code of Conduct
BetaNYC, a partner project of the Fund for the City of New York, is committed to hosting safe and open spaces for all. By attending this event, you commit to our Code of Conduct and Anti-Harassment Policy.
Recording and your data
This session is recorded and will be posted publicly. If you’d rather not appear, keep your camera off and choose a display name you’re comfortable sharing. We keep a record of who registers and attends in CiviCRM, our own database, and use it to invite attendees to BetaBuilders. Demographic questions are optional; your answers stay private and help us see whether we are reaching all of New York City. Details: BetaNYC privacy policy.