AI for smarter cities: finding the real value

As writer William Gibson put it: "The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed." Many of us are interacting with artificial intelligence (AI) on a daily basis, from Netflix recommending our next binge-watch to Uber connecting us with the closest available driver or online chatbots helping to solve our customer service issues. Increasingly, cities too are looking to AI to improve services for residents and streamline operations, and at a recent workshop I attended at the Smart City InFocus event in Yinchuan, China, city leaders clearly pinpointed AI as the most "impactful" and "disruptive" technology (or set of technologies) that they need to respond to. Such is the perceived importance that last month, the United Arab Emirates government launched its AI Strategy and appointed its first Minister for AI. The 2031 strategy targets using AI to "disrupt government", eyeing a $15.7 trillion global economic opportunity by 2030, a 50 per cent reduction in government costs and massively increased resistance to financial crises.