View the San Francisco for Thursday, December 12, 2024
Supervisor Hillary Ronen during the Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. San Francisco leaders and the public could soon have a better idea of what kinds of artificial-intelligence technologies city departments are using and how they’re being used.
The Board of Supervisors approved a bill Tuesday that would require department heads to disclose to city Chief Information Officer Michael Makstman information about. The bill would charge Makstman with creating an inventory of those technologies and reporting on them to the public within a year of the legislation taking effect. It was not immediately clear whether Mayor London Breed plans to sign the bill, which the board approved unanimously on both the first vote last week and the second vote Tuesday. A representative for Breed did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether the outgoing mayor supports the bill. The legislation is meant to address the situation San Francisco’s city government finds itself in with regard to AI, said, the bill’s author. Some city departments are already using the technology, she said. But because each department has its own tech staff and essentially makes its own decisions about what technologies to adopt, it’s hard for anyone to know how the city government as a whole is using AI, she said.Supervisor Hillary Ronen speaking about the San Francisco Reproductive Freedom Act at Planned Parenthood in San Francisco on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. That in turn makes it difficult for policymakers or the public to weigh in how The City is using AI, Ronen said. The bill — which was cosponsored by Supervisors Dean Preston, Aaron Peskin, Connie Chan and Shamann Walton — aims to provide the information needed to start having those conversations, she said.AI technologies could help cities such as San Francisco deliver services more efficiently or better parse the data they collect to better serve their citizens. The Department of Health is already using AI-based image-analyzing technology to confirm stroke diagnoses, and the Department of Technology is using AI-powered cybersecurity software to prevent and detect hacks, according to the text of the bill.that can harm particular people or groups and prevent them from accessing government services. Certain AI technologies can infringe on civil liberties. And the adoption of AI and other types of automation can lead to job losses. The inventory legislation is likely the first step San Francisco will take in trying to set guidelines on how it will use AI, Ronen said. “I suspect in the future that we’ll need additional pieces of legislation,” said Ronen, who is termed out in January. Under the bill, department heads would be required to report on the types of AI technologies they are using, what those technologies do and how their departments intend to use the technologies. They would also be required to disclose the types of testing they’ve done on the technologies, particularly whether they have checked particular AI applications or models for race- or gender-related biases. Additionally, they would be required to report what effects the technologies could have on citizens’ rights and city employees’ jobs. Within six months of the bill taking effect, the CIO would be required to start compiling an inventory of the AI technologies The City is using. He’d be mandated to complete the inventory and make public the information within a year. The bill would also require the CIO to update the public report on San Francisco’s use of AI technologies every two years.— the version of the technology that can mimic human-created text, images or software code — and to older types of the technology, Ronen said.San Francisco is not alone in trying to get a handle on how its various departments are already using or contemplating using AI, said Quin Anex-Ries, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a public-interest group. One of the challenges that cities and their departments face is that AI is increasingly being incorporated into other software, sometimes in subtle ways, according to Anex-Ries. City officials in some cases might not even realize their departments are using AI, he said. “That can be one of the real challenging pieces now that can make it pretty common for governments to not always understand the full extent of the AI they have deployed,” Anex-Ries said. With Ronen’s bill, San Francisco is following in the wake of other governments that are also taking steps to try to shed light on their use of AI. Some six states have passed legislation that requires similar inventories for statewide agencies, Anex-Ries said. Meanwhile, at the city level, San Jose and New York have put in place similar laws, said Meg Young, a senior researcher at the Data & Society Research Institute. That could be just the start. In San Jose last week, the GovAI Coalition — which brings together state, county and local officials from around the nation — sponsored an event that brought such policymakers together to discuss best practices for their use of artificial intelligence. San Jose, which sponsored the coalition, is effectively evangelizing the idea of having local governments take stock of the AI they’re already using. Coming out of that event, “we can expect to see a lot more cities taking a similar pro-transparency approach,” said Young, who moderated a panel discussion at it.The Board of Supervisors stand during the Pledge of Allegiance prior to their meeting at San Francisco City Hall on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Anex-Ries and Young both praised Ronen’s bill. Its definition of AI is broad enough to incorporate not just applications such as ChatGPT, but other uses that might be overlooked, such as automated license-plate readers, Young said. It also makes clear that departments need to report not just on AI technologies they buy but also ones that they might be testing for free, she said. In many cases, cities have been getting access to such software to test out in a way that goes around their typical procurement processes and considerations, Young said.The bill also includes an enforcement provision, Young and Anex-Riest noted. The CIO is charged with reporting to the Board of Supervisors the departments that aren’t in compliance with the bill. Department heads who don’t comply can eventually be expected to be called to a hearing in front of the board’s Government Audit and Oversight Committee.“It seems like they’re really serious about this,” Young said about the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.SFUSD Superintendent Maria Su and the San Francisco Board of Education are looking to cut $113 million — roughly 10% — from the school district’s $1.3 billion operating budget.this week in an effort to stave off the bankruptcy — and subsequent state takeover — of The City’s public-school system. The San Francisco Board of Education on Tuesday approved a benefits package aimed to incentivize early retirement for employees 55 and older who have worked for at least five consecutive years in the district. In total, 1,372 employees are eligible for early retirement, according to a district presentation. SFUSD had 8,643 total employees in the 2023-24 school year, according to the district, leaving around 17% of the public-school system’s workforce eligible., the new board and superintendent could revisit shuttering schools if planned staff reductions, budget cuts and incentivizing early retirement don’t collectively reach the cost-cutting goal. District employees who choose early retirement must officially retire no later than June 30, submitting irrevocable letters of participation by Feb. 21. The Supplemental Employee Retirement Plan, as the package is known, provides a one-time payment totaling 60% of their salary in their final year of employment and continued retirement benefits.if the total number of accepted buyouts do “not meet the operational and financial goals of the District,” according to the text of the resolution passed Tuesday. A presentation issued to the school board that night indicated 314 district staffers must accept buyouts for the initiative to be financially viable. Outgoing educators who choose the early retirement package might have their positions eliminated altogether or be replaced by a lower-paid educators or staff members., said understaffing at schools remains an issue even halfway through the academic year. Parents voiced concerns at Tuesday’s meeting that some classes have been staffed by temporary or noncertified teachers for the entirety of the current school year. “When we have understaffed classrooms, aren’t able to come to school safe,” Curiel said. “I’m watching issues happen. My members are taking care of their students as much as they can, and we know there aren’t enough people.” Superintendent Su said Tuesday that this is the first year SFUSD is staffing based on its student population. The California Department of Education, which is currently advising the district on fiscal reductions, recommended that SFUSD continue to assess and adjust staffing needs and facilities planning for the upcoming years based on the The district is currently in the process of mapping out enrollment projections, but it will need to revise its staffing model when Gov. Gavin Newsom’s draft state budget is published next month.SFUSD will need to send state education officials a plan next week on how it will cut roughly 10% of its $1.3 billion operating budget. Su’s balanced-budget plan includes upcoming staff reductions — totaling more than 500 positions — a non-essential staff hiring freeze, and the newly approved retirement-incentive package. While the teachers union and parents on Tuesday pressed against upcoming staff cuts, UESF Vice President Frank Lara said the district’s transparency under new leadership is a welcome change. “For the first time, we feel we’re actually seeing the numbers in the budget,” he said. “We don’t like what we see, but we’re seeing it.”Click and hold your mouse button on the page to select the area you wish to save or print. You can click and drag the clipping box to move it or click and drag in the bottom right corner to resize it. When you're happy with your selection, click the checkmark icon next to the clipping area to continue.This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!Create a password that only you will remember. 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