wilson.seattle.gov
Seattle’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Vision: Centering Human Flourishing and Serving the Public Good
From Amazon’s global online marketplace to the $15 minimum wage, Seattle has long been home to innovations that transform our lives, and policy innovations that ensure the benefits of new technologies are broadly shared. That’s a big part of why our companies lead the world, why our community and worker protections set national standards, and why we’ve been one of the fastest-growing large cities in the country for more than a decade. We have an opportunity to build on that strength by establishing Seattle as the best place in the world for the development of responsible AI tools that enhance human flourishing and serve the public good.
We are well-positioned to lead the way forward because Seattle is already at the forefront of AI, with more than 400 AI Companies and 200+ AI Startups calling our region home. As mayor, I am committed to building on that culture of innovation. In consultation with workers, businesses, environmental groups, privacy advocates, and community organizations, and my colleagues on City Council, we can continue to grow our AI ecosystem while also living up to our progressive values.
The potential of AI is extraordinary, with many experts calling it the “next industrial revolution” because of its ability to compress decades of progress into a matter of years or even months. It’s exciting to imagine how AI tools could be used to reduce the digital divide, make our lives easier, accelerate scientific research and human knowledge, make public institutions more effective and responsive, and create new opportunities for residents and small businesses.
But this won’t happen unless these tools are deployed thoughtfully and in line with our values.
History shows that the social and economic impacts of new technologies are profoundly shaped by our policy choices. People decide together whether a new technology is a tool to concentrate wealth, to produce broad benefits, or a mix of the two.
The fundamental questions surrounding the adoption of any new technology are who makes the decisions, how the technology is used, and how the impacts are distributed. When it comes to AI, these questions are particularly stark. Will AI enhance our capabilities and unleash our powers, or will it devalue and degrade human creativity, impairing our ability to write and even to think? Will AI generate untold wealth and create abundance for all, or will it exacerbate environmental inequities and bias in crucial areas like social safety nets? Will AI free us from repetitive drudgery, or will it displace human labor in a way that renders us disposable, increasing precarity and unemployment?
Seattle cannot alone answer these fundamental questions, but we do have relevant experience and can start making headway on real solutions. Boeing’s airplanes transformed the world, drawing global economic relationships closer, and also created tens of thousands of good jobs in our region. The Microsoft-enabled PC revolution launched a whole new industry, boosted productivity and transformed the nature of work while generating extraordinary wealth locally. While many predict AI will have a far greater impact than either of these historical transformations, the fundamental question is similar: how do we support and promote innovation while also ensuring the benefits of that innovation are broadly shared?
I am committed to using the City’s public policymaking power to shape an AI future that centers human flourishing and ensures we do not socialize the costs of AI or privatize all of its benefits. This vision embraces advancements in technology and safety; addresses workforce impacts; integrates environmental considerations; implements anti-bias guardrails; and advances forward-looking governance.
Here’s what that looks like:
## City Workforce AI Use
Beginning today, City employees will have use of Microsoft Copilot chat for day-to-day tasks. Simultaneously, we will be blocking generally available AI tools which have not been fully reviewed and approved for City use.
Our City employees are the backbone of so many of the essential services our communities rely on. We want to equip our teams with the tools they need to create, learn, and do their best work while having peace of mind that these tools won’t violate the public’s trust and privacy, harm the people we serve, or take away our employees’ jobs. The City will encourage continual training, but employees will not be required to use this new tool.
I understand that some people may wonder why the City would allow any AI use at all. I don’t believe that simply burying our heads in the sand will prevent these tools from being used, nor will it allow us to continue to be world-class innovators in both technology and public policy. And it will also not help us to ensure compliance with critical privacy, transparency, and records protections.
As a City, we have a responsibility to keep up with technological change to better serve our residents. People around the world are already finding a multiplicity of ways to make use of this technology, and that includes hundreds of City employees who took part in early testing of Copilot and overwhelmingly reported positive results. I believe that thoughtful and moderated AI adoption in line with our values is the best path for our employees, and for the people we serve.
I would like to extend a special note of appreciation to the many people in the Seattle Information Technology (IT) Department who have worked hard over the past several months developing cybersecurity protocols, addressing privacy and data protection issues, maintaining compliance with public disclosure processes, and training City employees on proper use of Copilot Chat.
Going forward, we will follow this same rigorous set of protocols for all City AI adoption. Our IT Department has established a dedicated position for a City AI Officer who will be responsible for overseeing ethical AI adoption, coordinating across City departments, and serving as a public point of accountability for our AI data governance. Together with my office and our Privacy & Responsible AI Program Teams, the new City AI Officer will ensure that Generative AI uses across City Departments are in line with our already-established values, including sustainability, transparency, bias and harm reduction, security, privacy, and consideration of workforce impacts.
Over the next several years, I will add to our existing technology risk assessments by developing an AI framework auditing process modeled after work in the European Union, aimed at developing strong labor and other standards across pre-procurement, procurement, and usage of Generative AI products for City work.
## City Leadership in AI Adoption
AI can be incredibly beneficial to our city, but actually delivering those benefits requires careful consideration of impacts on our workforce and environment, and a careful analysis of privacy and bias considerations.
Across the globe, we’ve seen governments deploy AI in incredible ways: helping to navigate complex regulations, calming traffic, enhancing translation, and even detecting water leakage. Over the next year, my team will work to identify and expedite use cases for AI innovation – like permitting acceleration – that are in line with our City values.
Simultaneously, we will develop a public-facing framework around our AI usage and governance. We will build on our external AI website to include an AI register that shows the basics of how AI tools work and the policies that govern them, as well as an AI hub that lists and connects to all the tools that may be in use.
Another critical piece of how our city navigates AI relates to the need for specific policy around AI data centers, which create power and infrastructure demands that have huge impacts on the environment, affordability, equity, and health. Last week, I announced specific action steps to begin to address those concerns.
Over the course of the next four years, my team and I will continue to develop our internal City AI policy to ensure that Seattle sets the standard for responsible AI usage. We are currently exploring everything from guardrails on the use of AI in the hiring process to the impacts on our arts community and additional protections for workers, consumers and the environment.
## Responsible Development of AI
AI is already beginning to have wide-reaching impacts, and governments around the world are scrambling to play catch-up. Our state leadership recently passed important legislation to disallow mandatory microchipping in workplaces, as well as new laws protecting teens and other residents when they use realistic AI chatbots. These are valuable steps, but more can be done to address the potential dangers and abuses of AI.
My vision is about catalyzing a vibrant local ecosystem for the development of responsible AI tools. That includes work with business, labor, and community leaders to develop City-led public policies to ensure our residents and workers have the protections we need as the AI field expands.
We will also work with AI innovators from across the nation in government, academia, workforce, and more to discuss latest best practices around addressing real and potential AI impacts, including in workforce displacement and skills-building, cognitive decline, and mental health. Finally, we will create infrastructure to elevate worker and community voices on long-term planning and building of AI tools, impacts, and policies.
With world-class colleges, robust training programs, and incubation hubs like AI House, Seattle has the potential to lead the way as a national example of how to develop AI that centers human flourishing.
Seattle is the greatest city in the world, and we have a unique history of leading in both innovative technology and innovative public policy. I know that together, we can make Seattle the place that shows what it looks like when AI is deployed as a tool to enhance our quality of life.
Your mayor,
Katie B. Wilson
