Dive Brief:
- Mayors from Boston, San Francisco and San Antonio are among those coming together to help shape AI policy and development in the Mayors AI Forum, a coalition launched this week in conjunction with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins University.
- The 10 mayors appointed to the forum will work directly with AI developers to provide insight and use cases on how AI can benefit localities.
- “Confronting the reality of AI and its potential to advance solutions to local challenges requires we mayors move boldly, strategically, and compassionately or else get left behind,” San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said in a news release.
Dive Insight:
AI adoption is occurring rapidly around the globe, according to Bloomberg Philanthropies. However, less than 2% of local governments are deploying AI across departments, a Euna Solutions survey of public sector finance and operations leaders found.
“As I talk to cities and government leaders around the world, one thing I recognize is we are not thinking big enough” about AI, Jonathan Reichental, founder of consulting firm Human Future, told public sector leaders during a National League of Cities AI panel last year.
Some of the biggest hurdles for local government adoption include privacy, security and a lack of clear state and federal guidance surrounding AI, according to the Euna Solutions survey.
The U.S. mayors selected for the Mayors AI Forum have embraced the technology. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie last year provided AI tools for some 30,000 city employees, while Boston became one of the first major U.S. cities to adopt AI guidelines in 2023. San Antonio city workers have also been actively experimenting with municipal AI projects, Axios reported in October 2025.
“Boston has long been a hub for technology and innovation — and that legacy comes with a responsibility to lead as new tools emerge,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a news release. “Local governments must set the frameworks to shape the use and impacts of these technologies for the protection and benefit of our communities.”
Other cities with representatives joining the forum include Bogotá, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Kyiv, Ukraine; London; Madrid; Nairobi, Kenya, and Tokyo.
