Philadelphia officials outline AI governance, say training and inventory are coming this summer

Melissa Scott, the city’s chief information officer, told the Committee of the Whole that the Office of Innovation and Technology has already published an internal AI policy and will begin employee training on April 1 as part of a broader governance framework.

“In this is introducing them to how to utilize these tools… It’s called a prompt, and then it will produce back to you information that would help you with your original prompt,” Scott said, explaining the purpose of large language models and stressing that staff will be taught not to upload city data to external chat tools. She told council the city has roughly 35–36 AI tools already in use across departments.

Camille Duchaisse, the city’s chief administrative officer and co‑chair of the governance group, said the administration has prioritized a three‑pillar approach—ethical, human‑centered use; process and control; and data and security—and has established cross‑functional committees to vet tools before departments use them in public‑facing services. “We are building out a framework for an action plan,” Duchaisse said, adding the plan will be fleshed out through the summer.

OIT and CAO officials said the city will expand the governance conversation beyond technical vetting to include legal, procurement and labor representatives, and that an external advisory component is planned to provide additional public input. Scott said some departments are already using AI features for narrow operational tasks—body‑worn camera transcription and drone detection in public safety were cited as examples—and that OIT’s project health check process will continue to be applied to AI tools.

Councilmembers pressed for transparency and public access to the policy and tool inventory. Scott said the policy has been available internally since March 24 and that OIT will prepare a public‑facing action plan and inventory for release as the summer workstream concludes. The administration also agreed to consider a council seat on a governance committee and to provide a list of approved and under‑review tools to the council chair.

Next steps: OIT will run staff training beginning April 1, complete the action plan through the summer and provide council with an inventory of AI tools and further details on governance seats and public release timelines.