1. What big IT projects are coming up?
The City Council just approved the first budget allocation dedicated specifically to advancing the use of AI to improve services in the city. My team is very excited to continue our efforts to lead the GovAI Coalition with the founding agencies and help other cities implement safe and responsible AI solutions based on robust policies.
The city is also excited to focus on testing using AI to enhance micromobility safety on our streets. In addition to testing the ability to detect potholes and trash, we are also focusing on refining the accuracy and efficiency of AI to detect road safety conditions. Our ultimate goal is to enable the implementation of AI for detecting and mitigating obstacles for cyclists, scooter riders and other road users before they become concerns.
2. What IT project is the most influential?
I am very proud of San Jose’s efforts in championing safe and responsible AI through establishing the GovAI Coalition. This coalition is the foundation of how San Jose looks to assess and evaluate AI technologies and further our knowledge with the help of other agencies across the country and soon internationally. San Jose would not be able to tackle AI alone. Our effort as the presiding member sets the groundwork to implement safe guidelines and policies in government, which will allow vendors to develop their products with digital privacy as well as equity and inclusion in mind.
I also think our 311 program provides many opportunities as well. My hope is to use our AI capabilities and the evolving 311 services to promote seamless government services. You can call 911 anywhere in the county and the operator can connect you to the desired local service. Why can’t we achieve the same integration with 311?
3. What has surprised you most in gov tech in the past year?
The recent advances in generative AI and the adoption rate by consumers surprised me. We have been waiting for AI to mature and provide the desired results, but did not expect to achieve accuracy progress for a while.
I was reminded of the power of sharing and collaboration in government. I’m proud of what the GovAI Coalition was able to achieve in less than five months. While we believed we were creating something that would bring a lot of value to government agencies across the country, I did not anticipate the level of commitment from our partners in the coalition.
4. What are your top priorities?
The security and privacy of the communities we serve. That is what I have my staff look at with every project we work on and every new technology we implement into city services. Everything we do is in response to what the community wants and needs, so putting the community first in our minds must be our priority.
Second is cybersecurity, as we need to ensure that city operations can function without risk and that all our data remains safe and secure. IT staff must always be diligent to ensure the city can operate and provide services to our full efficiency.
Third is how we can make our services operate more efficiently and proactively. We need to collect and evaluate the data we have on our services to understand the whole picture of the impact of those services. Once we understand the data, we must continue to test and evaluate new technologies to upgrade and provide the best city services possible to our community with equity, inclusion and accessibility in mind.
This story originally appeared earlier this year in Industry Insider — California, GovTech’s sister publication. It also appears in the September/October 2024 issue of Government Technology magazine. Click here to view the full digital edition online.
