Google, AI guide of the NLC number for city leaders

Diving brief:

• The National League of Cities and Google announced on Wednesday a report on the way in which local governments can take advantage of artificial intelligence technologies – and alleviate the risks they have.
• AI offers cities the possibility of becoming more efficient, sustainable and habitable, the CEO and executive director of the NLC, Clarence Anthony the report. He highlighted applications such as optimization of traffic flows, reducing energy consumption and rationalization of administrative tasks.
• However, all the cities not use or even to have Access to AIwhich could transform “the digital divide which has tormented many cities in” AI “” “division” Karan BhatiaVice-president and world leader in government and public policies of Google, said in a statement.

Diving insight:

Although the concept of AI has existed for decades, it burst into public discourse in 2022 and 2023 with the publication of AI generating applications that allowed people around the world to engage more directly with the Technology for the first time, the NLC and Google report said.

The generative AI, which can create new content such as text and images based on models learned from existing data, is only one of the many categories of AI. Other types of AI relevant to the local government are predictive AI, which makes predictions on events or future trends, and insightful AI, which interprets and understands sensory inputs.

Each of these types of AI brings distinct promises and traps, says the report, which was led by the AI ​​Consultative Committee of the NLC.

Generative AI, for example, can be used to translate public meetings and 311 calls or to develop chatbots that can answer resident questions. However, the generator can make mistakes. New York Chatbot made the headlines earlier this year after providing residents with disinformation on subjects such as housing rights and workers’ protections.

AI tools can also reflect existing biases present in the data on which they are formed; For example, they could strengthen the allocation of existing inequitable resources, indicates the report. AI tools can also pose risk of confidentiality and data security and become a target for cyber attacks.

The report contains a toolbox that guides cities through the stages of the start of the AI, in particular the realization of an analysis of the landscape, the evaluation of the preparation, the development of advice of use and policy and to engage the public.

Throughout the report, NLC and Google emphasize how some cities already use AI. Many communities have chatbots that help users find information on the city and its services, while Sunnyvale, California gives residents who attend the meetings of the municipal council in person access to a closed titration translation time. Memphis, Tennessee, uses AI to find nests-of-poule by analyzing video sequences from city vehicles and combining these results with existing data. Tucson, Arizona, meanwhile, uses AI software to predict the most likely to fail water pipes, helping the city to prioritize maintenance and repairs.

But the obstacles to these applications remain: resource constraints, concerns of city staff or elected officials and the lack of political will to invest in technology are among the challenges that cities are confronted in the implementation of AI, according to the report.