Assessing the collective challenges of AI: An applied framework focused on people centeredness and public participation

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology promising to revolutionize the relationship between humans and urban environments. While the forms of human-machine interaction are becoming increasingly natural and naturalized, the impacts of such interactions for individuals and society are far from simple to grasp. As AI and Urban AI-related systems are being adopted by local governments and public authorities in support of public service delivery, it becomes increasingly important to involve communities in discussing impacts and working towards acceptable trade-offs in terms of the risks and benefits AI can represent to everyday life. Participation is often part of the discourse around policymaking and urban governance, yet the gap between decision-makers and city-makers within urban governance is not resolved. Besides, the barriers participatory processes hold to be accessible and inclusive stem now from lack of AI literacy and overall awareness on why and how participation can be a pillar of policymaking. We propose an urban governance framework for assessing the collective challenges of AI focused on people centeredness and public participation. Our contribution to the field of urban governance is a piloted framework designed and implemented in collaboration with city representatives, supra governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations and respective lessons learned.