Dive Brief:
- New York City has made some progress in how it uses artificial intelligence in city operations, but several areas for improvement remain, the New York State Comptroller found in an Aug. 27 follow-up audit report.
- The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation “partially implemented” all three state recommendations from a 2023 audit, which included adopting a unified AI framework, identifying AI policy gaps and implementing policies to create an effective AI governance structure.
- While reforms have been initiated, the OTI has yet to complete “certain critical activities” including developing requirements for approving AI tools, creating procedures to ensure data quality, monitoring accuracy and bias and defining acceptable AI use, according to the audit.
Dive Insight:
As more cities incorporate AI into operations, governance over the technology is still catching up.
A 2023 state audit of AI use in New York City from 2019 through 2022 found an array of different approaches among agencies. “While agencies were required to report certain types of AI use on an annual basis, there were no rules or guidance on the actual use of AI,” the comptroller found.
Oversight of the city’s AI use has gone through several iterations, culminating in the 2022 establishment of the NYC Office of Technology and Innovation, which published an AI action plan following the initial state audit.
The comptroller’s follow-up audit found that as of April, OTI’s AI risk-assessment process remains in the development stage and that city agencies are not clearly reporting on their use of AI tools to the OTI or the public.
Lack of consensus concerning the definition of AI also persists, according to the audit.
“Although AI can enable entities to operate more intelligently, more productively, and more competitively, it is also giving rise to a host of unwanted, and sometimes serious, consequences,” the comptroller’s office stated. “Without adequate governance and oversight over the use of AI, misguided, outdated, or inaccurate outcomes can occur and may lead to unfair or ineffective outcomes for those who live, work, or visit NYC.”
