By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District
Last September, the Board of Supervisors unanimously supported an employee policy governing use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The goal was to build frameworks around issues such as data privacy, cybersecurity, bias, and transparency — while recognizing that these tools are both here to stay and also important elements of improving customer service.
Since that time, County staff have undergone training on AI (including privacy and protection of data) and implemented an initial set of pilot programs to study appropriate use cases for County implementation of AI.
Additionally, the County has undertaken ongoing efforts to ensure secure adoption of AI.
What efforts is the County taking to ensure security of the systems?
Security is always a top consideration when adopting emerging technologies. Only the most secure and transparent tools from reputable developers are approved for use by County staff.
To date, County staff have used the adopted AI Appropriate Use Policy effectively to request our Information Services Department review of new AI tools.
While to date more than half of the AI tools reviewed have not met the County’s security standards necessary for approval, the number of approved tools has grown from the original four (Bard, ChatGPT, Claude, and Scribe) to eight. Dall-E, Bing Co-Pilot, Canva, and Grammarly Editor have been added to the authorized AI tools list.
What are the AI pilot projects at the County?
Several pilot projects are underway that look to use AI in new, innovative and secure ways across the County. Here is an overview:
AI Doc Translator: One such project nicknamed “AI Doc Translator” leverages AI technology from Microsoft’s “Azure Translation Services” to translate public-facing fillable PDF documents from English to Spanish with ease while preserving document format.
Once translated, the documents will be reviewed for accuracy by a registered translator who is knowledgeable on the subject matter. There is currently a substantial backlog of documents awaiting translation and limited staff availability to perform the work manually.
The AI Doc Translator will significantly speed up the process of document translation resulting in improved public accessibility and equity.
If the pilot is successful, full implementation will occur in spring of next year.
Planning Commission Meetings LLM: This program is designed to improve the ease of accessibility of Planning Commission meetings using AI-powered “context-based search” technology.
Data from past planning meetings (including supporting documentation) will be ingested into a large language model (LLM) which will be accessible by a user-facing chatbot.
Once complete, the public will be able to access all detailed information on a given topic by asking for it in plain language. For example: “Show me all records related to bicycle infrastructure from planning meetings between 2010 and 2020.”
If this pilot is successful, the full implementation will occur early in 2025.
Broader AI Usage by County Staff
The County has developed and is maintaining an internal dashboard to monitor trends in AI usage by County staff. Currently, the dashboard counts visits to the major AI tool providers including OpenAI, Google Bard, and several smaller sites.
The content of the sessions is not being tracked. Since tracking began in May 2023, staff have engaged in over 184,000 sessions using AI tools.
Each week, everyone who used AI in the previous week is sent a very short survey and the results provide insight into the steps people are taking to minimize the risks of using AI along with highlighting potential new use cases for training purposes and new AI tool adoption.
The most common use-cases by County staff include document composition, technical assistance/programming, and drafting internal communications.
AI Across Local, State and Federal Government
The County has been leading efforts at the local, state and national level in AI policy formation and regulation.
Our staff have worked closely with the the City of San Jose’s GovAI coalition — which was created to give local governments nationwide a voice in shaping the future of AI in government and for the benefit of society. The coalition includes over 150 local, county and state governments.
Additionally, I have the honor of serving in leadership roles on both the California State Association of Counties AI Committee and the National Association of Counties AI (NACo) Exploratory Committee — both of which have been working on creating local and state best practices for AI regulatory frameworks, safety, security and adoption.
We participated in the White House’s AI regulatory work for AI and provided input from the local level on its formation.
The NACo AI Exploratory Committee recently released an “AI Primer” document detailing the actions and policies Counties can enact to successfully leverage generative AI tools while minimizing their potential risks.
Our County provided extensive input into the document and process. The primer emphasizes the formation of work-groups to write policies governing the use of AI, identify use-cases for AI, and provide training to end-users.
The NACo AI committee is also in the process of creating example use cases for AI in County government nationwide. Our County team is working to incorporate many of the NACo recommendations into ongoing AI policy work here.
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As always, I appreciate hearing your thoughts. Feel free to contact me at 454-2200. I’m also maintaining regular updates on social media at www.facebook.com/supervisorfriend
