Evolve 2026 - AI for the Public Good (Highlights)

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:01][music] >> A lot of times we are bogged down with the day-to-day operations. Making sure we're doing this, that, to make sure that things are working smoothly. And a lot of times the AI aspect of how we can be more proactive occurs. The government, as well as you all know, we are on the back end usually when it comes to technology. Private sector and companies are usually more ahead of where government lies. You know, and I've realized that a lot of the problems we're having as a small government are some of the same challenges that, you know, bigger cities have as well. We don't have the, you know, staff infrastructure. Honestly, you know, when we're coming into office we don't we don't even have an IT person. When those systems fail, they affect real human lives.

[00:00:51]Human challenges.

[00:00:53]The farmer missing his planting season.

[00:00:58]The startup that's [music] failing because of siloed information.

[00:01:04]Offices that do not communicate with each other.

[00:01:07]I I as a local government see AI as as as a platform.

[00:01:10]See AI as a as a complement.

[00:01:14]You know, it does start with trustworthiness.

[00:01:16]Um, and I think the transparency a lot of times is just kind of letting everybody know what the end goals are and something that they can rely on and that citizens can know is working for them even if they don't exactly understand how.

[00:01:30]Citizens know that better than they know how we serve them.

[00:01:35]So, today in Ethiopia you [music] can have a driver's license in 15 minutes and get an ID in a day, which was totally impossible 5 years ago.

[00:01:44]>> Air quality is important to our constituents. So, tackling that as issue as well as helping young entrepreneurs make sure that AI is working for everyone. The data is important, but how we use the data is what First you got to sense, then you analyze, after you got to act, got to have a purpose. A small city can really be a model for the rest of the world what we can do as far as innovation. People look at AI as something that is going to take their jobs, but to be honest, I think that this is really going to help us maximize the capacity of our staff. I really going to help us close that gap a lot faster [music] than in years past.