Q&A
Public engagement efforts for AI governance
1:17:10
·
146 sec
Council Member Gutiérrez inquires about OTI's public engagement efforts for AI governance, including listening sessions and outreach methods. Alex Foard provides details on these initiatives.
- OTI conducted three virtual public listening sessions in the summer of 2023
- These sessions were derived from commitments in the AI Action Plan
- A summary of the findings from these sessions is available on OTI's website
- Outreach for these sessions was primarily done through social media channels of OTI and partner city agencies
- OTI is considering ways to improve outreach and engage with more specific groups of New Yorkers in future sessions
- The exact number of attendees was not provided during the discussion, but OTI agreed to send this information later
- Language accessibility options were available during the sign-up process, but no special accommodations were needed
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:17:10
Okay.
1:17:11
Thank you.
1:17:17
Okay.
1:17:17
Can I ask about the public engagement?
1:17:20
I know you touched on it a little bit.
1:17:24
So there was a a number of public engagement sessions, and then OTI took over that responsibility.
1:17:32
Correct?
Alex Foard
1:17:33
So we did our own in the summer of 2024.
1:17:37
Okay.
1:17:37
Derived from the action plan.
1:17:38
So the action plan committed us to building out a number of public listening sessions that we could again better understand the priorities and interests of New Yorkers.
1:17:48
So we did our first set of those in the summer.
1:17:51
These were the virtual ones that we summarize.
1:17:55
Actually, there's a on our website, there's a summary of of what we learned from those sessions, and then are expecting to do more sessions in the coming year.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:03
How many were done virtually in the
Alex Foard
1:18:05
It was all 3 of the
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:07
All 3.
1:18:07
And those were those were now oh, OTI facilitated.
Alex Foard
1:18:10
Those were all OTI facilitated.
1:18:11
Okay.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:12
And all virtual.
Alex Foard
1:18:13
Correct.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:14
Okay.
1:18:14
Was there any issue with language?
Alex Foard
1:18:18
No.
1:18:19
If I recall, we had for the sign up on our site, an option to identify any, you know, language or access needs, and I don't recall us needing to to pull in any special And
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:31
they were just during the summer July August?
Alex Foard
1:18:34
I'll double check on the specific dates of them and get them back to you.
1:18:36
But, yes, it was summer of 2025.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:38
Okay.
1:18:38
And what can you share how many people attended in total?
Alex Foard
1:18:42
I'll I'll send those numbers if we can send them.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:18:43
Okay.
1:18:44
And then can you share kind of like what the the outreach was for these sessions?
Alex Foard
1:18:51
Sure.
1:18:51
Most of the outreach we did through social media.
1:18:54
So working with existing social media channels that OTI has, also working with city agency partners and their social media channels.
1:19:03
One of our key findings, I think, from our sessions, is that we'd love to think about how we can do different sorts of outreach to continue to engage further with New Yorkers and and to make sure we're being a per council member Paladino's point, speaking to specific groups.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:19:18
And it was and I'm sorry.
1:19:20
It was social media agency to agency or, like, network partners, how
Alex Foard
1:19:27
So it it our us as OTI putting out information on our social media
Jennifer Gutiérrez
1:19:32
Mhmm.
Alex Foard
1:19:32
And then likewise working with agency partners for them to do the same.
