The city of Arlington will begin placing guardrails around its artificial intelligence usage to comply with a new Texas law.
The new AI policy was passed by the city council under the consent agenda on June 23.
The city already uses AI in daily operations, Chief Information Security Officer Bryce Carter said, and the changes will help Arlington adapt to the technological changes.
“We’ve gotta balance things, but we’re trying to adopt it very responsibly and look for proof of value, so that way it’s actually providing (a return on investment),” Carter told the Report.
In 2025, the Legislature passed the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, which sets boundaries for acceptable and unacceptable AI uses for governmental bodies.
Uses prohibited include using AI systems to collect biometric data without consent or to create a “social score” based on an individual’s behavior.
The law was authored by state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake.
State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said the legislation could benefit the public while ensuring the safety of Texans.
“While AI has immense potential for good, it also poses significant harm if left unchecked,” Schwertner said in a 2025 Facebook post.
The city’s new policy creates a system for cataloging which AI systems are used and assessing the risk for unlawful harm, as well as security breaches.
Among the city’s uses is the Public Works Department’s NoTraffic cameras, Arlington’s public chatbot and Microsoft Copilot for city employees, Carter said. Much of that work is already monitored by humans, he said.
In 2024, the city adopted a generative AI security policy. Standards set include who bears responsibility for errors, when text or data compiled by AI is checked by a human and what information can and cannot be put into such a system.
“We’ve already had a human in the loop, but it helps a lot with our internal processes that the public may not see,” Carter said.
Many of the guardrails set by the new state law are already in place in the city, Carter said. However, the law requires that the city evaluate any adopted AI programs.
Arlington created a committee to evaluate the new software and AI systems before their introduction last year, Carter said.
“We were still like most other governments, trying to figure out how do we regulate this, or regulate ourselves because it’s just changing so quickly,” Carter said. “This new law will require us to go backwards and evaluate everything that we had before.”
The new city policy also establishes that third-party vendors working with the city will need to ensure any AI systems used are in compliance with state law. It also requires some city employees to receive Texas-certified mandatory training on AI.
Arlington already created AI training for its employees, according to a report given to the city council earlier this year. Carter said the city has standards for third-party usage of artificial intelligence, but tracking exactly what others are doing isn’t easy.
“It’s even harder to do when it comes to technology and cybersecurity, because they can tell you they’re doing something, but there is about a thousand components to that, and it’s impossible for us to evaluate all of them,” Carter said. “We’ve done our best to make sure our vendors are complying with minimum standards, but it’s always going to be, and will continue to be, a work in progress.”
Moving forward, the city’s AI policy will need to adapt as the technology evolves, Carter said.
“There’s just so many of these AI models out there, and it’s changing so quickly,” Carter said. “I can’t say what we’re adopting is going to work for a year from now, so we’ll have to make sure it’s agile, and we’re keeping it up to date.”
Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org.
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