City officials get crash course in artificial intelligence during Monday morning presentation
Two local experts in the field of AI highlighted productivity gains, job impacts of rapidly evolving technology during a two-hour presentation at City Hall.
Palm Springs city officials received a crash course in artificial intelligence Monday from two experts in the rapidly evolving field.
City residents Mark Talkington and Peter Loforte provided an in-depth briefing to department heads and other city leaders, covering the history of AI, its current applications across industries, and the potential impacts on jobs, the economy and society in the coming years.
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“AI is only as good as the people who are behind it and who are working on it,” Talkington said. “There’s bias in everything we do every day. So having people try to train that bias out of open AI and teach it how to be a good doobie, that falls on people like me and Peter.”
The wide-ranging presentation highlighted how AI is already being used for content creation, data analysis, customer support, code generation and more. Experts believe the technology will lead to significant productivity gains but also substantial job displacement.
“According to McKinsey, there’s going to be a need for about 12 million occupational transitions in the US in the near term, more so than they predicted, and that’s due to technology and AI infiltrating business,” Loforte said.
However, the two consultants believe Palm Springs is well-positioned to leverage AI given its tourism-based economy and unique combination of creative and technical talent.
“For Palm Springs, it’s interesting because there’s such a tourism and experience based economy here,” Loforte explained. “I think we’re actually in really good shape because people still want to go out to nice places where there’s nice weather, nice places to eat, and nice events to hang out at.”
Talkington and Loforte advised city officials to experiment with AI responsibly, be transparent about its use, and provide guidance to staff on appropriate applications. They also emphasized the importance of upskilling and reskilling the workforce to adapt to the changes ahead.
“You won’t be replaced by AI, but using AI will make you irreplaceable,” Talkington said.
Loforte concluded the briefing by encouraging city leaders to embrace the technology’s potential. “I do hope that your AI efforts that you’re leaning into figuring out what the right thing to do is internally and for the city all up,” he said.
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