The Technology Commission voted Oct. 8 to sunset its standalone Public Surveillance working group and fold those responsibilities into the Artificial Intelligence working group, citing overlapping subject matter and a desire to focus staff and commissioner time.

Commissioner Steven Apodaca proposed the consolidation and moved to merge the groups. Commissioner Williams, who has led the surveillance work, said the overlap is growing: “I can see how those 2 things can exist. Also, it leaves space for the other concerns around, public surveillance slash AI, like facial recognition.”

Why it matters: commissioners and staff said artificial intelligence tools are increasingly applied to public surveillance use cases — from camera analytics to automated reporting by vehicle and infrastructure systems — so keeping the efforts aligned will reduce duplication and better position the commission to produce integrated recommendations.

Commission discussion covered membership and quorum concerns for working groups and how to structure subgroups if needed. The commission clarified that working-group quorum rules still apply on a per‑meeting basis and that the merged group could form task-specific subgroups when appropriate.

The motion to modify the Artificial Intelligence working group to encompass public surveillance was seconded by Commissioner Williams and approved by voice vote without recorded opposition. Commissioners agreed to schedule an outreach meeting before Halloween to pull together interested members and begin drafting next recommendations.

What’s next: Williams said she will convene interested commissioners and seek materials from researchers and city staff, and commissioners reported they had already begun sharing the existing recommendation with council offices for possible policy consideration.