WASHINGTON — D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that the D.C. government is planning to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into operations, which she believes will help better serve the community.
In addition to the announcement she signed a Mayor's Order outlining the actions that will be taken and how the people of D.C. will benefit. The Distict has also officially created an "Artificial Intelligence Values Statement and Strategic Plan" to ensure that the city's use of generative AI aligns with D.C. values.
“We are going to make sure D.C. is at the forefront of the work to use AI to deliver city services that are responsive, efficient, and proactive,” Bowser said. “With these guiding values, we will make sure that when we use AI, we are responsible and we use it in a way that aligns with our D.C. values.”
The mayor said some of the ways AI can be used include making the hiring process faster, automating how the District receives requests and making it easier for residents to get a response, and looking for trends of what people are searching and asking for -- in the hopes of building a more proactive government.
To make sure AI is used efficiently, the Mayor's Order outlines the following actions:
- Defining DC’s AI Values, which will serve as the cornerstone of implementing AI solutions in District government. These values will be weighed whenever AI solutions are proposed within the DC Government, and only solutions congruent with all six values will be adopted.
- DC’s AI Values are: Clear Benefit to the People, Safety & Equity, Accountability, Transparency, Sustainability, and Privacy & Cybersecurity.
- Establishing an Advisory Group on AI Values Alignment, comprised of public and government members to ensure public oversight of District government’s AI adoption efforts. The Advisory Group will monitor agency AI adoption efforts and advise the Mayor on how well District government has done in promoting and adhering to D.C.’s AI Values.
- Convening an AI Taskforce of government personnel to work with agencies to produce key governance policies, procedures, and documents throughout 2024, and to begin a three-year process of helping every agency develop specific AI strategic plans. The taskforce will be overseen and organized by Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO.)
- Setting AI Benchmarks for District Government by imposing a schedule of deadlines through Fiscal Year 2024 for the creation of core components and planning documents that will shape D.C.’s AI Strategic Plan. These include plans for AI training at the agency level and processes for ensuring privacy and cybersecurity are preserved as AI technology is deployed by agencies.
The Mayor’s Order provides a roadmap for integrating generative AI into government operations.
“The Office of the Chief Technology Officer is at the forefront of finding safe, equitable ways to harness the power of AI in government services and how DC Government — and the people we serve — can benefit from this new technology,” said Stephen Miller, Interim Chief Technology Officer “I look forward to the potential of AI in improving government services for the benefit of all residents in Washington, D.C.”
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