In response to the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), the Riverside City Council Tuesday established a temporary committee tasked with researching the technology and creating citywide policy recommendations.
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“Artificial intelligence is going to change the way we work, the way businesses operate and the way cities provide services,” Councilmember Steven Robillard, who suggested the working group, said during the September 15 meeting. “I don’t think Riverside should wait for those changes to happen to us. I think we should be intentional about how we prepare.”
The three-person working group, made up of Councilmembers Robillard, Philip Falcone and Steve Hemenway, is set to meet once a month for the next 13 months and follow the same procedures as the council’s other committees.
The working group is tasked with developing a “forward-looking” strategy that addresses AI’s rapid growth and outlines how the city should utilize the tech in the future. The council members would focus their efforts on five core areas: introducing ethical and safe AI usage in city government, fostering innovation in the economic and workforce sectors, addressing the resource demands the tech would require, establishing cybersecurity safeguards and partnering with educational institutions to promote communitywide AI literacy.
After completing their work, the committee is expected to present the council with policy recommendations and a strategic framework.
“The goal is to bring in experts, ask difficult questions, learn from what other cities and institutions are doing and develop a Riverside-specific strategy,” Robillard said during the meeting. “Ultimately, I want Riverside to be a city that doesn’t simply react to technological change, but helps shape how that change benefits our residents, our businesses and our community.”
AI has been a recurring topic of conversation for the city council and its committees over the past year.
Last year, the city added AI chatbot Rivy to its website, with the goal of answering residents’ questions immediately while freeing up city staff to focus on more complex interactions.
In June, the council approved the purchase of AI-powered body cameras for the Riverside Police Department.
That same month, the Economic Development Committee reviewed an AI-focused workforce training non-profit that recently entered into a non-binding agreement with the city council. Mentions of a potential data center as part of the collaboration also led the Land Use Committee to begin discussing regulating data centers, ultimately leading to the committee to recommend a 90-day moratorium.
“The fact that I’m authoring this data center topic, I think it makes sense because they go hand in hand and there’s a correlation there,” Falcone said during the meeting in response to his nomination to be part of the ad hoc committee. “This is necessary, despite my hesitation towards additional groups and more bureaucracy.”
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