Mayor Harrell Launches New Responsible AI Plan and Community Innovation Hackathon Series

New plan creates trainings, resources, and rules for City employees to leverage advanced technology to better serve residents and businesses

Seattle – Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the City of Seattle’s ambitious 2025-2026 AI Plan, positioning Seattle as a national leader in responsible artificial intelligence implementation to better serve residents and businesses. The announcement included updates on AI pilots and kicked off a new Community Innovation Hackathon Series in partnership with AI House.

“Artificial intelligence is more than just a buzzword in Seattle – it’s a powerful tool we are harnessing to build a better city for all. Our new plan ensures we lead with our values, using AI to improve services, empower employees, and speed up processes like permitting,” said Mayor Harrell. “By using this technology intentionally and responsibly, we are fostering a nation-leading AI economy, creating jobs and opportunities for our residents, while making progress on creating a more innovative, equitable, and efficient future for everyone.”

The City partnered with community, academia, and experts to develop the updated AI policy, which sets the foundation for City staff using AI by incorporating frameworks and best practices prioritizing innovation and responsible use. 

Seattle was one of the first cities in the country to release a generative AI policy in April of 2023, which was then iterated and fully implemented that October. The original policy established governing principles for the City’s approach to AI including: innovation, accountability, reliability, fairness, privacy, explainability, and security.

The new plan pairs an updated policy that extends these principles beyond generative AI to all general AI solutions with new trainings to empower employees to use this technology responsibly and a planned rollout of new enterprise tools. The training and upskilling plan will include an introductory Citywide course, deep dive workshops on data science and data integrations, and partnerships with universities and technology companies to create a curriculum for advanced projects. The City is committed to working with labor partners to invest in the professional development of our employees, protect jobs, and preserve the rights of workers while improving the essential services the City provides.

“Seattle remains focused on AI enabling better services and greater opportunity, in line with Mayor Harrell’s vision. Our second AI Policy builds on lessons from almost 40 AI pilots and projects, while we upskill our teams, partner with leading companies, and apply our leading responsible use AI work,” said Rob Lloyd, Chief Technology Officer, City of Seattle. “Partnering is absolutely the key to success. In true Seattle style, we’re partnering with AI House to launch the Community Innovation Hackathon Series that invites Seattleites to help us turn responsible AI into practical solutions for Youth Connector, which improves awareness and access to mental health and well-being programs for our young people – a priority not only for  Mayor Harrell and City Council, but for our neighborhoods and communities as well.”

City AI Pilots

The City’s original AI Policy supported a learning environment and launched 40 different pilots to better understand what worked and what didn’t. Now, guided by the updated policy and new plan, the City is focusing on how to apply these learnings to top priorities including accelerating permitting and housing production, public safety, customer service, and accessible information.

Currently active pilots include:

• Faster permits: The Permitting Accountability and Customer Trust (PACT) team launched by Mayor Harrell in June is working with CivCheck to cut permit processing times in half by catching errors before applications are submitted. The public will be able to track progress on a new city website, with more results to be shared later this fall.
• Safer streets: Seattle’s Department of Transportation uses AI to identify intersections where engineering improvements can reduce the risk of crashes. They also partner with King County Metro on AI to improve bus reliability and Lime to improve the parking bikes and scooters to help keep sidewalks accessible.
• Better infrastructure: Seattle Public Utilities plans to apply AI to pipe inspections, catching problems early to avoid costly emergency repairs and protect our wastewater system and public health. The department is also testing AI tools to help employees quickly find answers to HR questions and streamline purchasing.
• Clearer communication: The City uses AI tools like Jasper and Smartcat to create accessible written materials and provide accurate translations with humans in the loop, ensuring all residents can easily access city services and information. These tools support Mayor Harrell’s Executive Order in February on inclusive information.

To help implement the new AI plan, the IT department will be hiring a new AI leadership position to coordinate and align efforts across departments. The City is working closely on AI pilots with both private companies and partners like Stanford’s Regulation Lab and the Rockefeller Foundation to explore internal and public-facing chatbots, enterprise deployment of AI-powered digital assistants, and supporting the creation of customized agents for specific department needs. These efforts will be evaluated by metrics established by the new policy for: performance, accuracy and reliability, adoption and satisfaction, scalability, return on investment, and alignment with business goals.

Community Innovation and Youth Connector Hackathons

The Community Innovation Hackathon Series is hosted by Seattle’s Innovation and Performance Team in partnership with AI House. It will bring together students, entrepreneurs, technologists, City staff, and community to co-create AI-powered solutions to critical City priorities. These hands-on events facilitate rapid design, prototyping, and presentation of data-driven solutions to specific challenges.

The inaugural Youth Connector Hackathon on September 11 focuses on developing AI-powered tools to enhance Seattle’s Youth Connector web application, aiming to improve awareness and access to youth enrichment programs citywide. This event is based on City research, which identified awareness as the primary barrier to youth participation in mental health-supporting activities. Participants will design intelligent systems, such as catalog builders, data curators, and sync agents to transform unstructured program information into searchable, regularly updated resources.

The next hackathon in the series, planned for October 9, will focus on streamlining permitting processes. Future hackathons will explore issues such as improving the City’s customer service and small business support. Sign up for updates from Innovation & Performance to receive information and registration links on upcoming hackathons. 

Seattle as an AI Innovator

Seattle stands out as a leading hub for AI innovation and business expansion, home to nearly 25% of the nation’s AI engineers and second behind only San Francisco for AI concentration. Recognized for its skilled workforce, world-class research institutions like the University of Washington, and robust technological ecosystem, the city provides an unparalleled environment for advancing artificial intelligence.

The City’s strategic investment in AI infrastructure continues to yield significant economic and social benefits. Through public-private partnerships like AI House and the Seattle Climate Incubation Hub, the City has created innovation spaces that support AI startups from incubation through commercial launch. The integration of AI has demonstrated significant economic and societal benefits, bolstering growth and innovation across industries. Seattle’s strategic advantages position it as a global leader, fostering progress and shaping the future of technology.

What People Are Saying

Leah Tivoli, Director, City of Seattle Innovation & Performance Team

“In our youth mental health research, we heard directly from hundreds of teens about how important recreation, social clubs, internships, and other programs are for their mental health and well-being. We are building a program in direct response to that feedback and thoughtfully leveraging AI tools to go further in solving this persistent challenge than we could ever do alone to make a real difference in their lives. Five years from now, AI tools will be everywhere. Our choice is whether we shape them to serve residents equitably or let them shape us. When we lead with partnership – including government, students, tech experts, and community – we can solve problems today and build scalable solutions for tomorrow.”

Markham McIntyre, Director, Office of Economic Development

“We have a unique opportunity to shape the future of AI, because we have a distinct competitive advantage with the talent, spirit of innovation, forward thinking companies, and established public partnerships. Seattle should be the AI capitol of the US.”

Ginger Armbruster, Chief Privacy Officer, City of Seattle

“As we work to develop and deploy AI tools to achieve transformational efficiencies in aspects of our City work, we fully understand that our AI infrastructure and use must be built on a foundation of unwavering commitment to ethical data use and robust checks and balances to ensure adherence to our data privacy and security obligations. This approach will safeguard the tools we employ for public good, remain focused on accountability, accuracy, and transparency in service of our mission of building and maintaining the public’s trust about how we collect and use their information to provide critical City services.” 

Yifan Zhang, Managing Director, AI2 Incubator

“AI2 Incubator is proud to partner with the City of Seattle to build AI House – the city’s first physical hub for AI innovation. Seattle has the talent to lead this generational technology, and AI House connects our engineers to real-world problems to build solutions. The City is leading by example today, actively using AI to tackle housing permits, responsiveness, and accessibility.”

Jared Reimer, Lead AI Architect, University of Washington IT

“The City of Seattle is tackling the complex challenge of AI governance head-on, developing policies that prioritize ethical and responsible adoption while recognizing AI’s inevitability and promise. The new framework establishes a clear direction for balancing innovation with accountability as we navigate this emerging landscape.”

Omari Stringer, Vice Chair, Community Technology Advisory Board member

“As a member of the Community Technology Advisory Board, I want to recognize the leadership and proactive action of the Seattle IT team in developing the City’s new Responsible AI Policy. The policy reflects Seattle’s values by prioritizing transparency, accountability, bias prevention, environmental impact, and prohibiting harmful uses of automated decision-making without human oversight. These are important protections that set a strong foundation for responsible use of emerging technologies. This work also highlights the importance of collaboration, bringing together City staff, CTAB, and community stakeholders to shape how AI is evaluated and deployed. I appreciate the commitment to centering equity and privacy, while ensuring that innovation does not come at the cost of resident trust or safety. At the same time, the policy must be seen as a starting point, not a finale. AI is advancing rapidly, and the City will need to continually strengthen safeguards, test accountability mechanisms in practice, and elevate the voices of those most impacted by these systems. The City has taken an important first step, and now we must build on it to ensure our community remains protected from concerning applications of AI.”