DISCUSSION PRIMER: AI, CITIES, AND EQUITABLE CLIMATE ACTION
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) proliferates, local governments are increasingly becoming users of these technologies and host to the industry and infrastructure that supports AI. It is a rapidly shifting landscape which prompts all orders of government to consider how AI can optimize operations and improve efficiency. Although there are environmental costs to using AI, declining to deliberately implement AI may result in lost opportunities. If local governments choose not to take advantage of tools available to analyze data and improve operations, there is a risk they will leave these gains on the table, which explains why many, if not most, Canadian cities are already engaging in this work.
Urban Climate Leadership (UCL) is interested in exploring what the expansion of AI means for cities, how its deployment might impact the ability of local governments to effectively plan and deliver services openly and transparently, and what it might mean for cities and their pursuit of equitable climate action.