No tool in a municipality’s IT toolkit is associated with more hype, potential, and trepidation than artificial intelligence. Nor have government leaders ever felt greater pressure to adopt such a tool.
AI differs from traditional municipal technologies, and so does the urgency surrounding its adoption. Stakeholders from every corner — vendors, operational departments, boards, constituents, and state legislatures — champion its ability to augment understaffed departments and streamline workflows.
There’s truth in such optimism. Advanced AI tools are transformative. Yet for many local leaders, that promise comes with pressing questions: how to identify valuable use cases, manage security concerns, bridge internal skill gaps, offset resistance and, above all, where to start.
