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Council member urges AI and public-records policy after citing high PRA volume
Summary
Committee member Park urged the Governance and Ethics Committee to develop city guidance on use of generative AI and how Public Records Act (PRA) requests intersect with AI training; staff said an internal working group is preparing AI guidance and staff will review PRA implications.
Council Member Park urged the Governance and Ethics Committee to create clear city guidance on generative artificial intelligence and its interaction with public-records requests, citing frequent PRA requests and concerns that email or other communications could be used to train AI without consent.
Park noted a recent milestone: he told the committee he had received his 200th Public Records Act request in a little over four years and estimated staff costs for complying with repeated PRA requests. He said that raised questions about the city's internal use of AI tools and about whether communications provided in PRA responses can be used in third-party generative-model training.
'200th PRA' milestone and staff burden: Park noted, "If we were to estimate the staff costs and everything of a PRA to be $100 that would be $20,000 of expense." He urged development of both an internal AI policy for staff and outward-facing guidance for council use and public expectations.
City staff told the committee an internal working group is already reviewing AI issues, data handling in contracts and PRA implications. The City Manager said staff is "reviewing the PRA process and looking both at artificial intelligence as a tool for us, and with some of the implications that member, Park has raised" and that contractual provisions around data management are being updated as technology evolves.
Committee members and staff discussed practical steps: adding notice language to council email signatures to warn correspondents that communications may be subject to PRA and potentially used in analyses; having the information-technology and legal teams review contract terms with vendors that store or process city data; and including AI guidance in a broader council policy review. Staff committed to return language and said the topic will be on an internal work plan to review council policies.
No formal policy was adopted at the meeting. The committee requested staff provide draft language for council email disclaimers and a timeline for completing a recommended AI/PRA approach.
