Urban AI Report
URBAN AI is a report co-authored with 20 leading entrepreneurs and scientists. It aims to coin and develop the concept of urban AI.
Montréal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence – Complete Report
Complete report on the Montréal Declaration for a Responsible Development of AI. It features six parts: 1. co-construction approach and methodology; 2. overview of international recommendations for AI ethics; 3. summary report of recommendations from the winter co-construction workshops; 4. fall 2018 co-construction: key activities; 5. summary report of online surveys and proposals received for the Montréal responsible AI declaration; 6. priority projects and their recommendations for responsible AI development.
AI & Cities: Risks, Applications and Governance – UN-Habitat
This report is part of UN-Habitat’s strategy for guiding local authorities in realizing a people-centered digital transformation process in their cities and settlements. Produced in collaboration with Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, the report explores potential applications and discusses risks to assist governments in the appropriate and responsible use of AI in cities. Practical recommendations are also presented as well as areas of action to consider when developing an AI strategy.
‘AI Localism’ Course Module
Part of the course “AI Ethics: Global perspectives”, this module by researcher Stefaan Verhulst (Co-Founder and Chief Research and Development Officer, The Governance Lab) analyses the concept of ‘AI Localism’. As AI technologies become increasingly ubiquitous across governments and public services, cities have taken on a larger role in governing, monitoring, and overseeing its use. Cities have become innovation hubs for AI governance. How will cities reconcile the risks and benefits of AI use? What measures can be implemented to open up black-box technologies and allow governments to exercise transparency to constituents on their use of AI? Examining use cases of AI at a local level across housing, urban planning, public service, citizen engagement, energy, education, safety, and social care sectors, Stefaan sheds light on novel ways local governments are implementing and regulating AI.
Urban AI Guide
Many city leaders are confronted with the reality that they lacked the background knowledge to properly engage with and evaluate urban solutions involving emerging technologies such as AI. In some instances, this knowledge gap produces a barrier to project implementation or leads to unintended outcomes. This guide aims at aiding city leaders and urban technologists (academic, public, private, and community-focused) better understand how AI operates in urban contexts.
The guide begins with a literature review, presenting the state of the art in research on urban AI. It then diagrams and describes an “urban AI anatomy,” outlining and explaining the components that make up an urban AI system. Insights from experts in the Urban AI community enrich this section, illuminating considerations involved in each component. Finally, the guide concludes with an in-depth examination of three case studies that highlight the diversity of ways in which AI can be operationalized in urban contexts, as well as the steps and requirements necessary to implement an urban AI project.
“AI Localism In Practice: Examining How Cities Govern AI” Report
This report serves as a primer for policymakers, practitioners, AI Experts and the general public to learn about current municipal governance practices of AI. The report features fundamental governance methods that are being deployed by cities, mainly:
- Principles and Rights: foundational requirements and constraints of AI and algorithmic use in the public sector;
- Laws and Policies: regulation to codify the above for public and private sectors;
- Procurement: mandates around the use of AI in employment and hiring practices;
- Engagement: public involvement in AI use and limitations;
- Accountability and Oversight: requirements for periodic reporting and auditing of AI use;
- Transparency: consumer awareness about AI and algorithm use; and
- Literacy: avenues to educate policymakers and the public about AI and data.
Ten lessons and recommendations are then drawn from each of the governance mechanisms:
- Principles provide a North Star for governance;
- Public engagement provides a social license;
- AI literacy enables meaningful engagement;
- Tap into local expertise;
- Innovate in how transparency is provided;
- Establish new means for accountability and oversight;
- Signal boundaries through binding laws and policies;
- Use procurement to shape responsible AI markets;
- Establish data collaboratives to tackle asymmetries; and
- Make good governance strategic
Generative AI for Urban Governance
The purpose of this review is to shine light on different kinds of existing generative AI models and the types of problems they are currently being applied to, before presenting our research on the potential of generative AI to assist in decision making processes in the management of cities.
The Future of Urban AI: Global Dialogues on Urban Artificial Intelligence
To deepen our understanding of how deep learning and other AI technologies are being used to address pressing urban challenges, Urban AI and the Jacobs Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech partnered in Autumn 2022 to produce a program of webinars. This report analyses the insights and shares the learnings from those Global Dialogues on Urban Artificial Intelligence.
Montreal Declaration for a Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence
Announced on November 3, 2017 at the conclusion of the Forum on the Socially Responsible Development of AI held in Montréal, this declaration is an early example of a municipality developing a set of guiding principles for the development and deployment of a responsible AI for public purposes. Through a co-construction process with citizens, its creation involved a series of public consultations and citizen assemblies with over 500 residents, experts and key stakeholders. With more than 2,200 signatory citizens and >200 signatory organisations, the declaration promotes the following principles: Well-being; Privacy and Intimacy; Respect for Autonomy; Responsibility; Democratic Participation; Equity; Solidarity; Diversity and Inclusion; Prudence; and Sustainable Development.
NYC ADS Task Force Report
The New York City Automated Decision Systems Task Force was established by Local Law 49 of 2018 and was tasked with recommending a process for reviewing the city’s use of automated decision systems. The report provides recommendations on six different topics and are centered around three key themes: building capacity for an equitable, effective, and responsible approach to the City’s ADS; broadening public discussion on ADS; and formalizing ADS management functions.
Ultimately, its goal is to ensure these systems align with the objective of making New York City a fairer and more equitable place.
Barcelona’s AI Strategy
The “Municipal strategy on algorithms and data to ethically drive artificial intelligence”: the government measure laying down the mechanisms for applying artificial intelligence (AI) to municipal management and services while respecting citizens’ digital rights. Barcelona is joining cities’ efforts to construct a human rights-based AI and emerging technology model with a commitment to a democratic digital society. The strategy adopts 7 governing principles that have to be followed in any technological application to ensure correct risk management, respect for digital rights and public responsibility: Human action and supervision; Technical robustness and security; Data privacy and governance; Transparency; Diversity, inclusion and fairness; Social and environmental commitment; and Responsibility, accountability and democratic control.
NYC’s AI Strategy
The NYC AI Strategy is a foundational effort to foster a healthy cross-sector AI ecosystem in New York City. The document establishes a baseline of information about AI to help ensure decision-makers are working from an accurate and shared understanding of the technology and the issues it presents, outlines key components and characteristics of the local AI ecosystem today, and frames a set of areas of opportunity for City action. In addition it contains the NYC AI Premier: a document that establishing a clear understanding of what AI is, how it works, and key practical and ethical considerations around its use.