City AI Governance ProjectA Civic AI Lab project

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Work with the project

A public-interest policy project that helps local governments clarify AI governance questions and, when appropriate, convenes practitioners with relevant expertise.

Expert-supported working sessions

Bring us a local AI governance question

Local governments can bring a specific AI governance question, procurement decision, or implementation challenge. The City AI Governance Project helps clarify the issue and, where appropriate, convenes practitioners with relevant legal, procurement, technical, operational, or policy experience.

Sessions are focused, private discussions designed to help public agencies understand the questions they should be asking and identify practical next steps.

A focused session may help your team:

  • Define the governance problem and the decisions that need to be made
  • Identify relevant legal, procurement, technical, records, privacy, and operational questions
  • Connect with practitioners or researchers who have experience in the relevant area
  • Begin applying the project's inventory, risk-tier, procurement, or transparency tools
  • Leave with a concise list of relevant resources and possible next steps

How it works

  1. 1

    Submit a question

    Briefly describe the AI-enabled system, procurement decision, policy question, or governance challenge your organization is facing.

  2. 2

    We scope the issue

    We identify the decisions involved, the information still needed, and the types of expertise that may be useful.

  3. 3

    We convene a focused discussion

    Where appropriate and subject to availability, we invite relevant practitioners or researchers to participate in a private 60–90 minute working session.

  4. 4

    We document possible next steps

    Following the session, your team may receive a concise, non-legal summary of the questions discussed, relevant project resources, and possible next actions.

Examples

Examples of questions we can help structure

  • How should we inventory AI-enabled tools already used across departments?
  • What should we ask before renewing a vendor contract that now includes AI?
  • How should we classify the risk of a proposed resident-facing system?
  • What governance steps should we consider before deploying an AI chatbot?
  • How should we prepare for a new state AI requirement?
  • What transparency, human-review, records, or incident-response practices may be appropriate?
  • What type of outside expertise does this project require?

Important limitations

Outside-expert participation depends on relevance and availability and does not imply endorsement of any vendor, technology, organization, or policy. Working sessions provide policy and governance education only. They are not legal, procurement, cybersecurity, compliance, or technical advice.

Contact the project

Public agencies, policy organizations, researchers, and practitioners may contact the project with a local AI governance question or an interest in contributing relevant expertise.

contact@civicailab.org

We review inquiries from public agencies, policy organizations, researchers, and practitioners. Response times may vary depending on the request and the availability of relevant expertise.

Inquiry form

Please do not submit confidential, legally privileged, procurement-sensitive, security-sensitive, or personally identifiable information.

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