City officials outline inventory, oversight plans and staff guidance in first Philadelphia AI hearing

City of Philadelphia officials told the Council’s Committee on Technology and Information Services on Oct. 31 that the city already uses both narrow machine‑learning systems and licensed generative AI features, and that it is building staff guidance, procurement safeguards and a governance committee to oversee future uses.

Kristen Gray, chief legal counsel to Mayor Cherelle Parker and director of PhillyStat360, and Melissa Scott, chief information officer for the Office of Innovation and Technology, testified that the administration is guided by three principles — human judgment, public trust and accountability, and responsible use of smart tools — and that staff guidelines for generative AI will be published in plain language for employees and the public in late winter or early spring.

Gray said the rules are meant to ensure that “powerful tools must be used responsibly or we risk deepening inequalities and weakening trust with the public.” Scott told the committee the city treats machine‑learning systems (used for tasks such as anomaly detection, 311 routing and cybersecurity monitoring) differently from generative AI (tools that create new text, images or code on demand). She described two lists: one…