On the afternoon of Dec. 4, I joined some of the best entrepreneurial minds in the country at the city of San Jose’sGovAI Coalition Summit— produced in partnership with the Center for Public Sector AI and Government Technology* — where I saw another model for framing our current moment. During an opening panel featuring local and state government practitioners, I heard how these public servants are harnessing artificial intelligence to forge ahead with their goals of creating more equitable, safe and compassionate communities.
There’s a lot that’s already been said about the role of local governments under the upcoming federal administration. My entire career, I’ve focused on local governments as the drivers of change and innovation who also must deliver well on the basics — to make sure the trash is picked up. And even the mundane these days is marked by innovation and new technology to create better resident services — and better, faster trash pickup.
I’m rather partial to the viewpoint of panelist Jaime Wascalus, Saint Paul, Minn., CIO and director of its Office of Technology and Communications, who pointed out that through the GovAI Coalition, Texas and California are working together in a way rarely seen on the national scale. The Coalition is a testament to the power of local governments working collectively to lead change through practical application. In 2023, under the leadership of Mayor Matt Mahan and Chief Information Officer Khaled Tawfik, San Jose city staff initiated a meeting with other state and local peers who were also beginning to navigate the new GenAI landscape in government. That first meeting in November 2023 gathered together representatives from nearly 50 agencies; just over a year later, the Coalition is now 1,700 members strong, representing 550 agencies across the country.
The GovAI Coalition’s first public deliverables were published in March 2024, free for any government organization that wanted to establish responsible AI practices. These included a customizable AI policy template and an AI FactSheet to use with potential vendors. Since then, Coalition members have written several other resources that touch on everything from AI incident response to measuring AI performance to AI governance. According to the Coalition board, which is headed by the city of San Jose and composed of representatives from six other municipal and state governments, 77 percent of member agencies have already used the AI policy template, and nearly half are using the vendor agreement.
Innovation leadership is never easy, internally or externally. City practices, marked by routines and rules, resist change. New technologies hold promises but always risk — software risk or vendor risk. City lawyers often face questions of first impressions for them, resulting in more restrictive language. Procurement officers may be asked to purchase a solution, not a product, and often don’t have risk-free procedures to do so. Questions of privacy, security and IP ownership bring yet more issues to multitenancy participation.
Which brings me to a final takeaway from the summit: the collective power of state and local governments as procurers of this new technology. Through the regular virtual meetings, Coalition members share with each other information about vendors and provide their own peer-to-peer application demonstrations, in conjunction with a company representative. Vendors are also welcome to register as Coalition members and submit fact sheets for their AI products, which are then publicly displayed on the Coalition site.
We witnessed the need for top-level public digital innovators to share best practices with peers a decade ago, when we founded the Civic Analytics Network for Chief Data Officers. Will the work of the GovAI Coalition be more challenging given the current climate of mistrust and uncertainty?
Perhaps, but the confidence I have in local governments is recharged after spending the past few days in San Jose. During the opening session with Coalition members, Ethan Benatan, CIO of the Portland, Ore.-area transit system TriMet, acknowledged that no one knows exactly what the future will look like with AI, of course. But I did just see nearly 600 government officials and creative companies who will chart a path to it. And the tools at their disposal have never been more promising.
Learn more about the GovAI Coalition and consider becoming a member today.
*e.Republic is the parent company of Government Technology and the Center for Public Sector AI.
