AI Is Coming, AI Is Here

Towns and Cities look to get into Artificial Intelligence

It is incredible the speed at which Artificial Intelligence went from the purview of Science Fiction stories to a reality. In 2020, engagement with artificial intelligence, or AI for short, was purely an academic concern, but today, just about anyone with a few bucks to spare can harness the awesome power of computational giants. It’s no surprise that towns and cities want to get into the mix, and this past fall, Bloomberg Philanthropies and CityLab launched City AI Connect as a way to help make that happen. First, it bears repeating that AI is both and old technology and a futuristic one. The idea of artificial intelligence goes back several decades, and many might remember the run that IBM’s Watson had on Jeopardy. But it’s also a futuristic tool in that there is not only uncertainty around the technology, but it is famously unreliable in many of its capacities. If you are looking at a computer-generated image of party-goers, for instance, it might look real until you take a look at the hands and realize that it can’t quite get things just right.

The City AI Connect platform was designed to help municipalities work out those quirks, to help count the fingers if you will, while utilizing the most advanced technologies ever created by humankind. In their release on the tool, they say that “Generative artificial intelligence, powered by advanced machine learning algorithms, can analyze vast amounts of data to predict trends, helping cities improve emergency responses, mitigate severe weather events, and target resources for infrastructure enhancements. The technologies can also be harnessed to design creative solutions that can transform government delivery by reducing processing delays, eliminat- ing cumbersome paperwork, and expanding multi-language access to reach many more residents with vital, public services.”

Towns and cities are eager to get their feet wet according to Bloomberg, they cite three-quarters of a global survey of mayors who want to get started with AI, but only two-percent are actually implementing the technology. (Stamford was one of cities in the survey pool.) Through Bloomberg, municipalities can talk to other leaders, attend events, and learn how to utilize this data; and while it might not be outright said, likely build up a pool of common uses and needs to make these tools more effective in the future.

It is available to any local government official to use, and towns and cities can register at cityaiconnect. jhu.edu

What the future holds, no one knows, but it looks increasingly like artificial intelligence is going to be a part of it. While we grapple with examples from the realm of science fiction – and let’s hope it’s not anything like 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Terminator – we must understand how to use this technology wisely. It can be as transformative as the internet (connect people instantly, an endless source of information), or it can be as transformative as the internet (increase real-life disconnect, a source of disinformation). That is up to us.