{"id":265764,"date":"2026-04-13T16:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265764\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:32:11","slug":"this-city-is-not-just-training-its-staff-on-ai-its-educating-the-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265764\/","title":{"rendered":"This city is not just training its staff on AI, it\u2019s educating the public"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive<\/a>. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Smart Cities Dive newsletter<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Dive Brief:<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9, California, last week hosted its first free AI workshops for residents at the city\u2019s AI Center for Civic and Social Good<\/a>, a first-of-its-kind public education center focused on expanding AI access.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The workshops are part of the city\u2019s AI for All initiative, backed by the Bay Area Council business association, OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, to offer AI tools and education through the San Jos\u00e9 Public Library.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The initiative follows the launch of an AI upskilling program the city launched to train city staff to use AI \u201cresponsibly and effectively<\/a>,\u201d according to San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Matt Mahan. \u201cAI is reshaping how we live and work, and San Jos\u00e9 is making sure every resident benefits,\u201d Mahan said in a news release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dive Insight:<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9 is incorporating AI into a range of local government operations, including efforts to improve road safety<\/a> and streamline housing permitting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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After adding AI to its traffic signal prioritization<\/a>, the city reported earlier this year it had increased transit bus speeds by 20%.<\/p>\n

San Jos\u00e9\u2019s free workshops aim to give residents \u201cthe tools, training, and confidence to succeed in the AI era,\u201d Mahan said. The first workshops on April 8 focused on how seniors can use AI in their everyday lives and how job seekers can use AI for job applications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAI can save people time and make everyday tasks easier, but only if people know how to use it,\u201d Mattie Zazueta, who works in OpenAI\u2019s global affairs department, said in a statement. \u201cExpanding AI literacy is one of the most important things we can do to make sure the benefits are broadly shared. The AI for All initiative is a strong model for how cities can lead by giving residents access to the tools and the training to use them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recommended Reading <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published on Smart Cities Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[7,116247,4421,88,90,89,116246],"class_list":{"0":"post-265764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-free-workshops","10":"tag-matt-mahan","11":"tag-san-jose","12":"tag-san-jose-headlines","13":"tag-san-jose-news","14":"tag-san-jose-public-library"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}