The AI craze sweeping the globe has already led many companies and industries to adopt artificial intelligence tools.<\/p>\n
Now, the city of Oakland is dipping its toes into what some are predicting will be the biggest technological shift in decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n For over a year, Oakland officials have been quietly exploring how to use AI to improve city services, and city staff have been working with a local university to come up with ideas, they told us.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, some city workers are already using AI.<\/p>\n Deputy City Administrator Joe DeVries told The Oaklandside that he and the city\u2019s IT director formed a working group to explore AI roughly a year and a half ago. Mindful of the risks, DeVries said the group, which included staff representatives from every department, began by developing interim security guidelines for using AI in city work.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, there\u2019s a lot of fear and concern as a public agency,\u201d said DeVries. \u201cWe wanted to make sure we did it right.\u201d<\/p>\n In the near future, officials plan to ask companies to pilot AI tools across city departments. A draft document that the city shared with The Oaklandside lists 30 potential \u201cuse cases\u201d for AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city wants to partner with companies to test some of these ideas. In exchange, Oakland would provide feedback on products before firms try to sell them to the broader market.\u00a0<\/p>\n The list of use cases serves as a useful window into some of the problems bedeviling Oakland\u2019s government. Just a few examples:<\/p>\n Chatbots that can talk with residents about anything from code enforcement and permits to fielding complaints about potholes<\/p>\n A tool Oakland\u2019s police watchdog can use to scan OPD body camera footage to speed up investigations<\/p>\n Software for the Finance Department to stop \u201crevenue leakage\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n An AI agent to help the Oakland Animal Services Department match people with pets up for adoption<\/p>\n AI-enabled drones so the fire department can monitor fires.\u00a0<\/p>\n Technology that can comb through surveillance footage to catch people illegally dumping trash\u00a0<\/p>\n A platform that prevents corruption by reviewing the campaign finance reports of politicians to identify red flags\u00a0<\/p>\n A tool to review development proposals so the permitting process speeds up<\/p>\n In some of those cases, DeVries said, \u201cobviously a human has to do the final look.\u201d<\/p>\n Oakland established rules for using AI, but are they being followed? <\/p>\n The city working group issued guidance to staff in December 2024 on how to ethically use AI. For one, they have to get permission before putting city data into an AI tool.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Another rule: Staff have to include citations when AI is used in any reports, memos, or other public records.\u00a0<\/p>\n City staff are also prohibited from using AI tools to gain access to unauthorized data or feeding AI systems city data that includes personally identifiable information, such as social security numbers or credit cards. The city\u2019s guidelines also bar staff from using emails, Microsoft Teams messages, or any data from city applications or databases that contains information that could identify residents. And there is a blanket ban on \u201cany non-public data.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that these guidelines are not uniformly applied, though. In one case where we\u2019re aware AI was used \u2014 to generate an image of City Hall<\/a> for a mayor\u2019s office press release this month \u2014 no citation was included. And in records of chat logs we\u2019ve received, where city staff ask ChatGPT for assistance writing emails, the city redacted some names before sharing them with us, indicating personally identifiable information was entered against the rules.<\/p>\n Along with these guidelines, the city adopted an \u201cequity statement\u201d applying to AI use. That document says Oakland will develop and use technology that \u201creduces racial biases\u201d \u2014 a concern with many AI tools<\/a> \u2014 and ensure privacy, transparency, and community engagement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oakland is taking baby steps compared to San Francisco, which is home to major AI companies. In July, Mayor Daniel Lurie, who had OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on his transition team<\/a>, announced that nearly 30,000 city employees<\/a> would have access to Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, an AI assistant that, according to Microsoft, can draft reports, analyze data, and summarize documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Oakland contemplates dozens of uses for AI <\/p>\n According to DeVries, staff from about 25 different city departments attended a workshop in April at Northeastern University\u2019s Mills College campus. During the meeting, staff and a couple of Northeastern professors developed a list of roughly 60 potential uses for AI in city services.<\/p>\n DeVries said the city plans to solicit proposals from AI companies that might be interested in working on the ideas. The original list of 60 ideas was whittled down to 30 in a draft \u201crequest for information,\u201d a precursor to any contracts Oakland might sign with companies. The city is hoping firms will pilot projects over 16 weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201dIf it works well, we can consider actually developing and using a product more completely,\u201d DeVries explained.<\/p>\n Northeastern is also lending graduate students to the city to help departments develop tools already in use \u2014 primarily Microsoft 365 Copilot. DeVries said about 24 members of the city\u2019s AI working group will be trained at the end of the month on how to use Copilot when it\u2019s attached to the internet. DeVries added that the version of Copilot he currently uses doesn\u2019t have access to the internet, but he still finds it useful for recording and summarizing meetings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Nikki Lowy,\u00a0 Northeastern\u2019s director of community and city outreach, said students will study how Oakland staffers use Copilot and what challenges they encounter, with the goal \u201cthat this can form a larger rollout throughout the city at some point in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Mayor Barbara Lee has a representative on the city working group. Through $2.14 million from the Kapor Foundation, her office is pursuing a number of initiatives, including a \u201ctech week\u201d for Oakland and launching an \u201cinnovation lab\u201d at Northeastern that would include AI training and entrepreneurial support for the public.<\/p>\n \u201cAI has the potential to dramatically improve city services for Oakland\u2019s residents,\u201d said Lee spokesperson Justin Phillips. \u201cFrom helping to guide people through the permitting workflow, as San Jose is doing, to integrating AI into 311 to help residents access city services, as Denver is doing<\/a>, the opportunity to use AI to benefit Oaklanders is there for the taking, and we are taking steps to ensure we do that in a responsible, ethical, and equitable way.\u201d<\/p>\n How will AI impact the city\u2019s workforce?<\/p>\n A prominent concern with AI is that it could displace human workers. DeVries said that Oakland will support workers by paying for most to further their education, and that city leadership wants workers to get trained in AI.<\/p>\n DeVries said this will hopefully \u201callow them to do more with less, which is a reality we\u2019re facing in these tough budget times.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n To gauge what the city\u2019s workforce thinks of AI, DeVries said several departments were surveyed last year. About 85 employees responded, 55 of whom expressed concerns about using AI as part of their jobs. Respondents raised fears about data leaks and human workers losing their jobs to machines. Across the U.S., one in five workers<\/a> reports using AI in their job.\u00a0<\/p>\n