In fact, one can imagine that a city with a subarctic climate, fluctuating daylight hours and harsh winter weather conditions would have an even greater need to consider harnessing generative AI to improve operations. Thankfully, in the Internet age, municipalities can keep track of what other cities are doing to address common issues and monitor their progress toward solving similar problems — even if that other city happens to be 4,556 miles away. And, unlike the private sector, the public sector freely shares ideas to help people both inside and outside of their jurisdictions.
Brendan Babb, Alaskan born and a resident of Anchorage for most of his life, has served as the city's chief innovation officer for the past eight years. From his work as a data scientist and senior analyst/programmer in the private sector to a stint collaborating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he has long been interested in artificial intelligence. In this episode of "In Case You Missed It," Babb discusses public-sector collaboration and private-sector partnerships, promising use cases for the current use of AI, the role that AI may play in evolving city government in the future, and the challenges and barriers to implementing generative AI in city government.
LEARN MORE
- Connect with Brendan Babb on LinkedIn
- Recent Government Technology articles on AI training for residents and staff
- AI resources mentioned in the episode:
- Johns Hopkins University's City AI Connect (for public sector)
- GovAI Coalition
- Follow the Data podcast
- Professor Ethan Mollick's One Useful Thing blog
COMING SOON
In Case You Missed It is Government Technology’s weekly news roundup and interview live show featuring e.Republic* President Dustin Haisler and Chief Innovation Officer Joe Morris as they bring their analysis and insight to the week’s most important stories in state and local government.
Follow along live Fridays at 12 p.m. PST on LinkedIn and YouTube.
*e.Republic is Government Technology’s parent company.
