Participatory Artificial Intelligence and Local Governments

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming many industries, and public administration is no exception. Last Month (May 2024), Prof. Daniel Gatica-Perez took part in the 12th edition of eGovernment Symposium Romand on the theme of public administrations and Artificial Intelligence held at the Swiss Digital Center in Sierre in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It brought together representatives from business, government, academia, and politics to discuss the opportunities and limitations of AI in administration. The symposium provided a platform for collaboration and knowledge exchange between various stakeholders.

Prof. Daniel Gatica-Perez from Idiap showcased the collaborative tools from [Idiap’s] (https://www.idiap.ch/en) [Centre for Participatory AI] (https://www.idiap.ch/en/scientific-research/center-for-participatory-ai). In particular, he talked about Participatory and equitable AI and the human values involved in designing, developing and deploying socio-technical systems. He presented the [IcARUS project] (https://www.icarus-innovation.eu) as a case study. Talking about the IcARUS project, he mentioned gathering of 17 partners and drawing together the best evidence from urban security research and practice from the last 30 years to implement an evidence-based, integrated, multi-stakeholder approach to urban security problems.

Discussing the questions of “What human forces should be amplified?” and “How to support the public in the loop?” he presented the “EIPG: Evidence-Informed Participatory Governance” model developed in the IcARUS project and its implementation through the tool created for the cities of Turin and Riga, namely Sbocciamo Torino and Par drošu Rīgu!

Lastly, he discussed the case study of “Generative AI and local governments” providing examples of existing tools in cities, Idiap’s Centre for Participatory AI, and the EU AI Act. He concluded the talk with a presentation of the 12 defining competencies of Generative AI literacy which was also developed in the IcARUS project.