San Jose Explores Broad AI Adoption for City Workforce

San Jose is poised to dramatically expand its embrace of artificial intelligence, with plans to introduce personalized chatbot assistants for all 7,000 city employees. This ambitious initiative aims to significantly boost productivity throughout the municipal workforce. The move follows a series of successful AI pilot programs that have demonstrated the technology’s potential to enhance operational efficiency.

The city has formally requested proposals for a generative AI platform designed to alleviate the burden of repetitive administrative duties. These tasks include drafting reports, analyzing data, summarizing documents, and supporting software development. By automating these functions, employees can dedicate more time to complex, “higher order tasks” that require human judgment and expertise.

San Jose’s Vision for AI-Powered Productivity

Mayor Matt Mahan highlighted the transformative potential of generative AI in a recent interview. He noted documented evidence of employees in various departments experiencing a 10-20% increase in productivity. This improvement comes from automating some of the most routine and time-consuming elements of their jobs.

San Jose has proactively positioned itself as a leader in applying AI to government functions, striving for greater efficiency and effectiveness. Over the past few years, the city has implemented several innovative AI solutions. These include a bus route tool tested in 2023, which reduces time spent at red lights and helps public transit stay on schedule.

AI is also being utilized to enhance language translation on government web pages. Furthermore, it proactively identifies urban issues such as potholes, graffiti, illegal dumping, and homeless encampments. This allows the city to address service needs before formal requests are even submitted, fostering a more responsive municipal service delivery.

The city recently announced an expansion of its road safety pilot program after successfully identifying potholes and trash debris with impressive accuracy rates of 97% and 88%, respectively. Another program is set to launch, designed to expedite permitting times. These initiatives underscore San Jose’s commitment to leveraging technology for civic improvement.

Beyond its internal projects, San Jose has been instrumental in founding the GovAI Coalition. This collaborative group brings together local, state, and federal entities to share strategies and solutions for AI integration in government. Additionally, the city has partnered with San José State University to develop multi-track curricula, educating its employees on how to effectively utilize AI tools.

Tangible Benefits and Employee Perspectives

Stephen Liang, a data analyst in the city’s Information Technology Department, is a strong advocate for AI’s benefits. He shared how an AI assistant he developed during an initial city training program has revolutionized his management of 311 service request data. This allows him to concentrate on more intricate problems, ultimately enhancing service to residents.

Liang explained that his 311 Service Request Analyzer quickly pinpoints the top 10 issues residents are reporting. What once took hours, or even a full day depending on the volume of requests, now takes mere minutes. This speed enables faster responses, earlier trend detection, and ensures that resources are allocated where they are most critically needed.

Mayor Mahan reported significant gains from the city’s initial AI upskilling initiative. Through the first two cohorts, approximately 80 employees completed specialized courses, collectively documenting savings of over 10,000 staff hours. This also translated to roughly $50,000 in saved consulting costs due to the internal application of AI across various city departments.

Examples of these successful applications abound. An environmental inspector created a generative pre-trained transformer, or GPT, capable of scanning over 700 pages of code documents in mere seconds. The mayor’s budget team utilized AI to identify spending and revenue patterns by querying historical financial records, providing valuable insights for fiscal planning.

In another instance, an employee in the city’s Department of Transportation leveraged AI to prepare an application for a federal grant aimed at electric vehicle charging stations. Although the initial grant was withdrawn, the AI program allowed the city to swiftly adapt and successfully secure multi-million dollar funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, demonstrating the adaptability and effectiveness of these tools.

Addressing Challenges and Future Outlook

While the overarching goal is to enhance productivity, Mayor Mahan candidly acknowledges that AI implementation is not without its challenges. He highlighted the issue of AI “hallucinations,” which are incorrect or misleading outputs produced by generative models. These incidents underscore the need for vigilance and human oversight.

Recent examples of AI inaccuracies include a report from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, which contained multiple non-existent citations likely generated by AI. Generative AI has also led to an increase in attorney discipline cases due to the submission of court documents referencing fabricated legal precedents. Locally, a civic AI platform in the Google news feed mistakenly referred to Mayor Mahan as “Mayor Sam Liccardo” when summarizing a city council meeting.

Mahan emphasized the critical importance of training staff to verify AI-generated information against original sources. He stated that using large language models does not permit users to “turn your brain off,” stressing that curiosity and inquiry are just as essential with an LLM as with a traditional Google search. He also noted that the city already relies on technology for rapid information gathering, making AI a natural progression.

Despite the city’s enthusiasm for deeper AI integration, some concerns persist among city staffers. John Tucker, a representative from American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 101, which represents thousands of the city’s workforce, indicated that the union has not yet engaged in discussions with Mayor Mahan regarding these plans.

Tucker anticipates that AI use will be a central topic in upcoming contract negotiations. Workers, he said, will demand “strong guardrails” to ensure new technology genuinely strengthens public services and respects the individuals providing them. He underscored the union’s support for technology that improves public service, makes jobs safer, faster, or more effective. However, he warned against the replacement of human workers with algorithms, stressing that residents depend on the human judgment and experience of city employees.

Mayor Mahan has consistently reiterated that the deployment of AI is intended as an investment in human capital, not a strategy for workforce reduction. He views it as a means to equip employees with the best available tools and training. Generative AI, he believes, is here to stay and will profoundly shape the nature of work for generations to come. The city’s aim is to ensure its workforce remains at the forefront of this technological evolution, benefiting both employees and the residents they serve.