How Cities Are Learning to Put AI to Work

Cities around the world are exploring how AI can improve the way they operate, from managing traffic and processing permits to delivering public services. As that work matures, the questions city leaders face are becoming more practical: how to govern these systems, how to protect residents' data, how to fund them and how to tell whether they are making a difference.

Those questions are the focus of ThoughtLab's upcoming study, Building a People-First, AI-Powered City, which examines how cities are approaching AI and what their experience so far reveals.

Experimentation is easy. Measurement is hard.

Many cities have launched AI pilots, but far fewer can say with confidence which ones are working or how their progress compares with others. Without that context, it is difficult to decide where to invest next, which projects to scale and which to rethink.

Better benchmarks would help. Comparing progress across many cities, and learning from the plans and policies they have put in place, gives leaders a clearer sense of what good looks like. That is part of what ThoughtLab's research is examining, drawing on data from 200+ cities and hundreds of municipal AI plans and policies.

Maturity is about more than technology

AI maturity depends on far more than the tools a city deploys. A clear vision, strong governance and data security, a prepared workforce and a sustainable funding path all play a role.

In other words, AI in a city is an organizational change, not just a technology project. Governance, skills and public trust often decide whether a promising pilot becomes a lasting service.

Keeping people at the center

Residents experience municipal AI directly, in how they get around, how they interact with government and how they feel about the way their data is used. Programs designed around those experiences, and explained clearly, are more likely to earn lasting support.

ThoughtLab's findings are expected in early November at Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona. Wireside is one of the study's sponsors, alongside Dell Technologies, FedEx, FTI Consulting, General Motors, Intel, Microsoft and NVIDIA, and we look forward to the discussion it brings.