Committee backs no-cost Innovate US AI training MOU with data safeguards

The Government Audit and Oversight Committee on March 20 voted to forward a resolution authorizing the Department of Technology to enter a no-cost memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Innovate US to provide AI-focused training to city employees, with conditions on data sharing and public access.

Jeremy Pollack, legislative and technology analyst at the Department of Technology, described the training as a set of self‑paced modules roughly two hours in length aimed at public-sector employees and noted the city’s prior ChatGPT pilot drew participation from more than 2,000 employees. Pollack said Innovate US’s training covers risks such as privacy, bias and hallucinations and can be hosted on the city’s internal learning platform so employees are not directed to external sites.

Under the MOU described to the committee, Innovate US will provide training at no cost and will receive only aggregated training-completion counts and anonymous voluntary survey feedback; no personally identifiable information will be shared with Innovate US, Pollack said. Pollack told the committee the MOU includes indemnification language for the city, confirms application of the Sunshine Ordinance and the California Public Records Act to related materials, and requires Innovate US to obtain city approval before using the city’s aggregated usage in any public communications.

Committee members asked whether training would be mandatory and how aggregated data would be shared. Pollack said there is no plan to make the training mandatory at this time, and he described the shared data as counts of training completions provided on a monthly basis and voluntary anonymous survey responses. He also said Innovate US has been selected by peer jurisdictions and underwent a vetting process by the state of California.

The committee voted to forward the MOU to the full board with a positive recommendation on a roll-call vote.