Leading Local Government Through the Adoption of AI

Local government rarely makes headlines for innovation, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t being tested by transformative change. Artificial intelligence is no longer speculative, it’s already reshaping industries, from education and logistics to healthcare and journalism. Local government isn’t exempt. The question is not whether AI will be adopted, but how. And more importantly, who will lead that adoption.

This is a moment that calls for leadership, not just technical fluency, but vision, patience, and the courage to create space for learning. We often define government leadership through the lens of policy, budgeting, or crisis management. But what we need now is something less visible: the willingness to create space. Space for exploration. Space for failure. Space for adaptation.

The planners, clerks, finance officers, and inspectors who keep our communities running are capable of great things. But transformational change can’t be mandated. It has to be nurtured. It requires time, training, trust—and leaders who know how to cultivate all three. AI adoption in local government won’t succeed because someone bought the right software. It will succeed because leadership created a culture where innovation was possible.

We’ve seen this story before. In the early 1990s, the arrival of personal computers in city and county offices sparked similar debate. Were they necessary? Worth the cost? Many resisted. Others experimented. Slowly, what was once considered high-tech became everyday infrastructure. Back then, leaders didn’t need to understand every technical detail. What they needed was to give their staff room to learn, make mistakes, and revise their approach. The parallels to today’s AI moment are striking. This isn’t about mastering tools overnight. It’s about creating conditions where smart, mission-driven people can experiment and adapt.

We’re already seeing glimpses of this approach at work. In Pittsburgh, city staff are piloting AI tools to optimize traffic signals, reducing congestion and emissions. In Syracuse, predictive analytics help anticipate snow removal needs before storms arrive, improving service and safety. These efforts didn’t begin with massive funding or sweeping mandates. They began with thoughtful questions: Where can we improve? What tools might help? And they grew because leadership made room to explore, test, and learn.

There’s also a larger opportunity for partnership. Cities like Pittsburgh are home to leading research institutions, like Carnegie Mellon University, where the future of AI is being shaped daily. But as we look outward, we must first look inward. The most critical innovation doesn’t begin in a lab—it begins in the offices of city hall, the counters of permitting departments, the daily rounds of public works teams. Our employees are the next generation of civic leaders, and their ability to adapt, question, and apply these tools in the service of their communities will shape local government for decades to come.

That’s why leadership must focus first on empowering the people already doing the work. If we want AI to strengthen public service, we have to invest in the learning and growth of our own teams. We can, and should, welcome researchers, students, and developers into the civic space. But they should serve as collaborators and catalysts, not substitutes for our own workforce. When we prioritize the development of our employees, we don’t just prepare them for a wave of new technology, we help them lead it.

Good leaders don’t dictate innovation. They cultivate it. They give their teams permission and protection to take risks. They redefine success not as perfection, but as progress. And they see AI not as a threat to public service, but as a tool to strengthen it. Used well, AI can help local governments become more responsive, more equitable, and more transparent. But only if we lead with purpose.

You don’t need to be a technologist to lead in this space. But you do need to be present. Curious. Willing to ask better questions, and to build a culture where others can do the same. We are not just adopting new tools. We are reshaping how we serve and who gets served well. The future of our communities will be shaped not just by what AI can do, but by what we choose to do with it.

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About Andrew Flynn

Andrew is a Mt. Lebanon commissioner, public finance and policy expert, volunteer firefighter, and community advocate committed to building safer, more resilient, and better-connected neighborhoods. Through public service and hands-on experience, Andrew works every day to make a positive impact in our community.

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