DC is now one of the first cities to require generative AI training for government employees. The required course offers prompting basics, and covers risks inherent when using the tech.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s mandate applies to workers across the public sector, including teachers, unemployment claims examiners and city council staff. Within 90 days of being notified, according to today’s mandate, employees must take part in a two-part course hosted by the public-sector focused tech training platform InnovateUS. City contractors will also be required to complete the courses.
Several regional and municipal governments have partnered with InnovateUS to implement AI training for staff, including Montgomery County, MD. At the city level, Hope, AK, requires mandatory training for employees before they use AI tools for city-related purposes, but Bowser says DC is the first to make it a broad-reaching requirement for every worker.
“This training ensures that every DC government employee understands how to use AI responsibly,” said Bowser in a press release, “keeping people at the center of our work and maintaining the public trust that residents place in their government.”
It’s part of an ongoing effort by DC to lean into AI internally and externally. There’s a chatbot for residents to access open data (note: down for maintenance as of this writing) and a public-private partnership across the DMV using agentic AI to match people to jobs.
Headquartered in Boston, InnovateUS says it hosts AI training for public sector employees in 150 government agencies including those in Arizona, Kansas and Oregon. It also offers different workshops on specific use cases, like for teachers and human services workers, which will also be available to DC workers, per the course website.
Instructions will be in non-technical language, according to the website. Part one, estimated to take about an hour, is mainly focused on prompting basics, and 38-minute long part two covers “broader societal challenges,” including deepfakes. Notifications to complete the trainings were sent this morning.
The city’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer will be in charge of implementing the trainings. This platform is free for the government to use, per Laura-Céline Patrick, the press information officer for the agency.
The initiative is inspired by public engagement through the AI Values Alignment Advisory Group — a mix of citizens and government leaders. DC has hosted AI listening sessions following the mayor’s 2024 executive order establishing ways the tech can be implemented and of values, including ensuring privacy and transparency in how it’s used.
“This training helps put DC’s AI values into practice across every agency,” said DC CTO Stephen Miller, “with clear accountability, strong privacy and cybersecurity protections, and a focus on delivering real benefits for residents.”
