Please complete the following questions

In what ways does this plan align with your discipline's ethical code of conduct?

What are the benefits?

What are the risks? How damaging might they be?

Does this proposal address potential ethical dilemmas? Consider the following:

Is the proposed AI planned use(s) ethical?

Is the implementation plan ethical?

Is the evaluation plan ethical?

Is there compensation to an organization/person?

Who stands to benefit most, and who might be left out or disadvantaged using this AI?

Who holds the decision-making power?

Who has access, and is it equitable?

Are there areas that make you feel uncomfortable for some reason? We have a built-in ethical compass, and often our instincts are the first sign that something is ethically questionable.

Are there legal or compliance issues to consider?

What security measures are in place for the AI?

How is data protected?

Who controls the AI?

Are there areas that are ethically exemplary?

What recommendations do you have for improving this proposal?

Other Feedback? (Optional)

The purpose of this AI project is to build a phone application that uses AI through large language models (LLM) in collaboration with Fireworks AI, to enable greater city staff and citizen interaction. The primary functions of the app allows for feedback for elected officials & public officers, garners buy-in & feedback from citizens on city projects, provides citizens with real-time updates for travel conditions and/or emergency management protocols, and has a city history database to help people understand the city's history and origins. The primary goal is to make citizens feel closer to their city, by being involved in decisions made by elected officials, providing feedback that may have otherwise not been known at the city level, increase communication and transparency within the community, and better understand how the city functions. The timelines for integration will depend on how much information the city records office can access, how to train the AI model on that data, and how man coders are required to develop the app itself.

Developing this platform will cost from $3M to $9M depending on a few factors. Initial scoping and design would cost around $100-300K, the citizen communication platform around $1.5M, AI policy simulation engine is from $1-3M, weather AI integration costs a max of $750K, city history AI engine is $500K-$2M for the basic release of the application. Ongoing maintenance and operating costs would be between $700K-$1.6M per year depending on usage and other maintenance updates.

Impacts of AI

Though pricy, this app would be a wonderful fit for Excelsiorville and would serve as a beta test in finding new ways to better connect city officials with the citizens they serve. Some expected benefits are increased communication, increased transparency, improved emergency notifications, greater understanding of the city's history, and a greater sense of citizenship for those that call Excelsiorville home. Knowing the people who make decisions care about citizens and are open and honest with their dealings and decisions paired with the ability to understand how the city came to be what it is today. Potential challenges would be ensuring data security, ensuring funding is available for the operating costs, and maintenance of the app in general. This project would be solicited through a Request for Proposal (RFP) to the general public and could be proposed on by local companies, which also economically benefits the local area. Outside of energy usage there aren't major environmental concerns, but a team of 2 or 3 program managers assigned to oversee this app and its function would maintain awareness and address or correct any issues that may arise.

The program management team plans to meet monthly prior to and after the app's release. After the first year, if the app is working well and things are going as planned, they will meet quarterly and address any emerging issues as they arise, if necessary. This team will ensure that the contracted company is ensuring quality control of the app and will be the main point of contact between the city representatives and the contractor. They should have a background in information technology in order to provide adequate quality assurance and continue interfacing with the contractor as fixes are required.

Ethics of AI

Fireworks AI is a relatively well known AI company, and they have a stellar ethical record as a company in the AI realm. Data will be stored on cloud servers and will be encrypted and require multiple sources of authentication to access. The program manager team will make decisions on how the app works and what security measures will be taken in teamwork with the contractor's security team. The city legal department will remain in contact with the program manager team throughout the life of the app to ensure legal compliance and referral if necessary.

At this point, no groups of people would be disadvantaged or penalized as a result of using AI for this purpose. The only thing to consider at this time is that the older generations of citizens may not understand or know how to use the app which could put them at a disadvantage, so our program management team will need to offer customer service hours and training sessions for how to use the app if people need help learning how to use it. Finally, since one of the primary purposes of this app is to increase transparency, all city employees regardless of position shall be forced to identify any potential conflicts of interest before, during, and after release of the application as it relates to the development contractor. Any employee who has a conflict of interest with the company will be restricted from in any way assisting to develop or otherwise work on the project to prevent any appearance of impropriety.

In-depth Overview

The purpose of the EasyCity app is to connect citizens with members of the city government to 1) provide feedback into city proposals, 2) ask questions about decisions made by the staff, 3) gain insight into the city's history, and 4) navigate changes across the city such as traffic problems or natural disasters. The app is developed by teaching the AI program about the city's history, information about all past documented projects, all past construction projects, all council meeting notes and documentation, all street and highway-related information, weather and climate history, as well as a personal insight from each member of the city staff on what's important to them, how they approach an issue, and their general stance and philosophy on how they choose to help run the city.

Once the AI program learns about all of this data, it has a repository for historical data for the city which can be drawn upon to answer questions any citizen may have, in addition to providing real-time feedback to decision makers on second and third-order effects of a decision/policy update, answering questions about past decisions, projects, and to provide insight into how to proceed with real-time traffic issues, weather or emergency events.

Providing real-time feedback to city employees on city proposals and votes would prove vital for the city staff to understand how each citizen operates and how the decisions that are made at City Hall impact each person. It can also afford employees the opportunity to explain reasoning behind upcoming decisions and votes, answer questions about city-driven projects, and can help them to understand all of the costs associated with those actions.

The app can also answer questions about how the city as the community knows it came to be. It would be able to explain in laymen's terms what decisions were made in the past and why, and can provide context as to why things are done or structured in a certain way around the city. For instance, the bridge on 3rd Street is a one-way bridge, and some people wonder why it wasn't built as a two-way bridge due to rush hour traffic backups they experience.

Finally, through learning about the city's past climate conditions including day to day temperatures and any documented disasters or weather events (e.g. snow days) and provide a better prediction of the weather based on that history and current weather inputs from the surrounding area. It can also be used to integrate with real-time traffic monitoring to update citizens about traffic patterns and issues, as well as any incoming emergency-related instances including but not limited to tornadoes, Amber Alerts, or flood alerts.

The city employees also use this program to obtain feedback from constituents and gain their insight into potential issues the employee would otherwise not consider. It also helps translate larger amounts of feedback form citizens into more palatable results that can directly help employees enhance how they respond to and work with their community, building a tighter level of trust between them. Citizens would input data in the form of questions and feedback, and there would likely need to be a team to manage the program from the city to ensure it stays functional and up-to-date and remains its efficacy. I'd propose a staff of 3 or 4 employees to run the program and ensure it continues to run smoothly and continue learning based off the input and data it receives from both the citizens and the city employees.