City Council Meetings Get AI-Powered Transparency Boost

Sunil Rajaraman, the founder of Hamlet, a new streaming channel, has launched a platform to provide viewers with a deeper understanding of city council meetings. The platform uses artificial intelligence to process thousands of hours of meeting videos, turning them into actionable intelligence for the public. This initiative aims to increase transparency and accessibility in local government decision-making processes. According to Rajaraman, the idea for Hamlet was born out of his personal experience running for city council in a small California town in 2022. He lost the election but gained a new perspective on how local governments operate. "I was trying to become a better candidate, I wanted to understand how my city actually worked, what decisions had been made, why, who said what," Rajaraman recalled to TechCrunch. "And I couldn't figure it out. It's a total black box, and almost intentionally opaque." He noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic, many towns across the nation have started recording and posting their city meetings online, which inspired him to create a company that helps people understand local government decision-making. Hamlet's AI-powered platform processes meeting videos, extracting key information such as speaker identification, topic discussion, and decision outcomes. This data is then presented in a user-friendly format, allowing viewers to easily navigate and understand the content. "We use AI to process thousands of hours of city council and planning commission meeting videos and turn them into intelligence they can actually use," Rajaraman explained. "These videos are better than meeting minutes because those documents are just someone's interpretations of what happened. The video doesn't lie." The platform's launch has already attracted attention from real estate developers and political action committees, who see the potential for Hamlet to provide valuable insights into local government decision-making. "At first, I thought it would be a media company, but then real estate developers and political action committees started reaching out to us," Rajaraman said. The launch of Hamlet is part of a broader trend of increased transparency and accountability in local government. Many cities have started recording and posting their meetings online, and platforms like Hamlet aim to take this a step further by providing a more comprehensive and accessible understanding of local government decision-making. Hamlet's platform is currently available in several cities across the United States, with plans to expand to more locations in the near future. As the platform continues to grow, it is likely to have a significant impact on the way local governments operate and interact with their communities.