What Common Sense does

Common Sense AI, Inc. is a privately held, early-stage SaaS company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that sells an AI-native workflow automation platform to U.S. local government agencies. The platform is composed of three modular products — Public Records & FOIA (automating intake, document discovery, classification, jurisdictional redaction with legal citations, and fulfillment of records requests), Agendas (automating council meeting packet assembly, plain-language summaries, vote capture, and minutes), and Composer (a natural-language builder that generates full operational systems from plain English descriptions) — built on shared AI agent infrastructure that connects to legacy systems already in place at municipalities.

Under the hood, the platform relies on third-party foundation models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google Gemini, accessed under zero-data-retention contracts and isolated at the row level per agency. It integrates with document management systems (Laserfiche, OnBase), email (Outlook, Gmail), and identity providers (Google and Microsoft SSO), and ships with full audit trails designed to satisfy open-meeting and public-records compliance requirements. The company is SOC 2 Type II certified and is pursuing CJIS and HIPAA compliance via Vanta to broaden its addressable use cases.

Common Sense monetizes via quote-based annual SaaS subscriptions sold through a direct, demo-led enterprise field sales motion that includes running the software against a prospect's own public records to demonstrate ROI before purchase. The company serves 14+ named municipalities (predominantly small-to-mid-sized cities in California, with expanding footprints in Georgia, Tennessee, and Oregon). It is backed by South Park Commons (lead in a June 2025 funding round) and Riot Ventures, and is led by Founder & CEO Adam Judelson and CTO Arion Sprague, with a team of approximately 15–20 drawing on backgrounds at Palantir, SpaceX, Apple, and Amazon.

Name

Common Sense

Legal name

Common Sense AI, Inc.

Website

https://commonsensetech.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Common Sense AI provides an AI-native SaaS platform for U.S. local government agencies, automating public records requests, council meeting preparation, and bespoke municipal workflows through modular products that integrate with existing document and email systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Workflow Software (GovTech)

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Process Automation (DPA) & Orchestration Suites (HDAEAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Workflow Automation & No-Code Collaboration (BPAMAMAK), Enterprise Work Management & Collaborative Workflow Platforms (HDAEAHAI)

Keywords

• Government workflow automation
• Public records management
• Council meeting software
• FOIA request processing
• Municipal AI software

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Subscription: Subscription-based SaaS model for AI software modules targeting local government agencies. Pricing built for public agency budgets with ROI demonstrated through staff time savings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Common Sense provides an AI-native, modular workflow automation software platform for U.S. local government agencies. Its core products automate public records and FOIA request processing, council meeting agenda and minute preparation, and custom municipal workflow creation via a natural-language builder, integrating with existing document management and email systems while maintaining SOC 2 Type II compliance with zero data retention.

Product overview

Common Sense offers a modular AI platform for local government with three core products: Public Records & FOIA for automating public records request processing, Agendas for council meeting management, and Composer for building custom workflow systems. The products share a common AI agent infrastructure that orchestrates tasks across legacy government systems, with each module designed to work independently or together within an agency's existing setup.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Public Records & FOIA AI-powered public records and FOIA request management system for U.S. local government agencies that automates intake, document discovery, classification, redaction, and fulfillment with full audit trails and zero extra headcount.
• Agendas Council meeting management system for local government agencies that automates the hours of prep and cleanup surrounding council meetings, including packet assembly, plain-language summaries, vote capture, and minutes drafting.
• Composer AI-powered no-code workflow builder for local government agencies that lets non-technical staff describe what they need in plain English and generates complete operational systems, including intake portals, AI-powered review, approval routing, and integrations with existing agency tools.
• Trust & Security Portal Security and compliance offering for Common Sense AI's platform that documents SOC 2 Type II certification, in-progress CJIS and HIPAA compliance work, and security controls for government agencies assessing the platform's suitability for public-sector data.

Quantifiable outcome

• 8,483 documents processed, saving $7,900 and 99 hours of staff time on a single request
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

AI capability7 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AnthropiccoreTechnology or IntegrationAI model provider with zero-data retention contract. Customer documents are never stored or used to train AI models.
• OpenAIcoreTechnology or IntegrationAI model provider with zero-data retention contract ensuring customer data is not used for AI training.
• Google GeminicoreTechnology or IntegrationAI model provider with zero-data retention contract. Part of the multi-AI provider strategy for public sector customers requiring data privacy guarantees.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• CivicPlus: Suite of civic engagement, website, agenda management, and meeting tools for local governments. Directly competes with Common Sense's Agendas module and bundles broader communications capabilities for the same municipal buyers.
• OpenGov: Provides financial planning, transparency, and civic engagement software to state and local governments. Overlaps with Common Sense in council meeting transparency and agenda publishing use cases, though weaker in AI-driven document processing.
• Granicus: Established govtech suite (acquired NextRequest, GovQA) providing public records, communications, and civic engagement platforms to local and state agencies. Directly overlaps Common Sense's FOIA and records automation modules but serves a much broader municipal footprint and bundles against standalone vendors.
• Tyler Technologies: Large public-sector software vendor covering ERP, courts, public safety, and records for counties and municipalities. Competes with Common Sense in records and meeting management at the larger county/state level and could bundle AI features into its installed base.

Emerging players

• Cloudpermit: AI-enabled permitting and licensing platform for municipalities. Comparable AI-native workflow automation story across legacy government data silos, targeting the same buyer persona for different compliance workflows.
• ClaritiGov: AI-powered citizen services and permitting platform for local governments. Closest emerging AI-native competitor to Common Sense, applying similar AI agent orchestration to municipal service delivery rather than records/agendas specifically.

Direct peers

• GovOS: Local-government services platform that consolidates resident interactions, payments, and permitting workflows. Comparable AI-adjacent ambition in modernizing municipal services and targets the same small/mid-city buyer as Common Sense.
• GovQA: Public records request management software for government agencies, focused on intake, redaction, and compliance workflows. Directly competes with Common Sense's FOIA module in the same buyer persona.
• JustFOIA: FOIA and public records request management tool used by municipalities for intake, routing, and redaction. Smaller direct competitor to Common Sense's public records offering with comparable target customers.
• NextRequest (by Granicus): Purpose-built public records and FOIA request management platform serving local governments. The closest direct comparator to Common Sense's Public Records & FOIA module, although it lacks Common Sense's AI agent orchestration and Composer workflow builder.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Common Sense