Pocatello CIO proposes brief employee AI policy; council urges coordination with state

Chris Sorensen, the city’s chief information officer, presented a short draft artificial intelligence policy at a Pocatello City Council work session and asked the council for direction on adding it to the employee handbook.

Sorensen told the council the draft is deliberately small — three bullets that authorize generative AI for employees, require validation of AI output before use in city decision-making, and direct IT to develop an operational guidance directive. “Generative artificial intelligence is authorized for use by city employees to aid in the accomplishment of their assigned duty and mission,” Sorensen read from the draft. He added that employees “must always validate the accuracy of the AI output” before publishing or relying on it.

The policy is intended as a baseline while the city develops department-level guidance. Sorensen said the city has received departmental requests to use AI tools ranging from generative chat…