The Reason Cities Around the World Are Not Ready For AI

The emphasis is on potential immediate economic benefits, not on downstream socio-economic costs and risks. JL


Sintia Radu reports in US News and World Reports:

A new study warns that cities are doing a poor job of creating environments that will handle the potential of AI. London, New York and Paris scored highest among mega-cities. Singapore, Berlin and Chicago scored highest for large cities. San Francisco, Boston and Sydney ranked highest among medium-sized cities. Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Munich ranked top for small cities. Singapore had the highest score of all cities. Lagos  and Cairo scored lowest. Most cities do not address major societal changes driven by AI. Leaders concentrate on smart city opportunities, but ignore the potential for risks.

Singapore scored comparatively well among the world's cities to tackle the disruption that will be brought by artificial intelligence, but neither that city-state nor any other city in the world is close to being fully prepared to handle the potential and upcoming challenges that will accompany this technology.

That is the assessment of a new study that warns that cities are doing a poor job of creating environments that will recognize and handle the potential and implications of AI.

"Sure, some are better prepared than others, but all cities will need to continue to make substantial improvements to fully prepare for the impacts of next-generation technology," say the authors of the study, which was produced by the Oliver Wyman Forum, a research arm of the global management consulting firm.

The research, intended to help launch discussions on how to prepare for the changes that technology will bring, was based on conversations with leaders in business, government, academia and nonprofit groups. The study evaluated AI policies in various cities around the world and examined about 250 city vision and planning documents.

The researchers classified 105 cities in four groups – mega-cities with a population of 10 million or more, large cities with a population of 5 million to 10 million, medium cities with a population of 3 million to 5 million, and small cities with a population of less than 3 million. Researchers then looked at four benchmarks, or vectors:

"To wit, no city is ranked among even the top 20 across all four vectors, and none appears in the top 10 across three vectors," according to the report.

London, New York and Paris scored the highest among mega-cities, while Singapore, Berlin and Chicago scored highest for large cities. San Francisco, Boston and Sydney ranked highest among medium-sized cities and Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Munich ranked at the top for small cities.

Singapore had the highest score of all cities (75.8 points out of a possible score of 100). Lagos, Nigeria, and Cairo scored lowest among the 105 cities, with scores of 26.8 and 25.7, respectively.

• Vision: A city's demonstrated understanding of opportunities and risks around technology disruption, as well as its plans to tackle technological disruption.
• Activation: A city's ability to carry out forward-looking plans, "including the cross-stakeholder collaboration essential to governance."
• Asset Base: Cities' resources that can support enacting their vision, such as the flow of talent, strong STEM education, proof that they can innovate and attract innovative companies, as well as the required infrastructure.
• Trajectory and development: Proof that cities have made consistent progress in recent years, have improved their ability to execute plans and showed they have the resources to succeed in the future.

The researchers discovered that "most cities do not address major societal changes driven by AI and other technologies," according to the authors. Instead, leaders tend to concentrate on smart city developments and on opportunities, but ignore or lessen the potential for risks.

The study revealed that, by region, the Asia-Pacific dominates among mega-cities and large cities most prepared to handle AI. North America has the greatest number of medium-sized cities that scored comparatively well, and Europe had the greatest number of small cities ready for artificial intelligence disruption.

The researchers say the study is significant because cities are where technology's impact is most dynamic: through the competition for knowledge, investment, talent and even company headquarters. As populations increasingly urbanize, cities, the researchers say, will be at the center of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution – changes brought by technology.

Individuals, on the other hand, appear to have a more balanced view of the societal changes that AI and other technologies will bring, according to the study. About 4,500 people interviewed by the Oliver Wyman Forum said they anticipated AI and automation will lead to job loss.