The City of Austin is stepping up to lead in responsible AI innovation and adoption. As AI technologies are increasingly part of our lives and work, city leaders are committed to better understanding AI technologies, their impact on the community, and to putting guardrails in place to ensure that AI benefits all residents and improves public services. On April 24, 2025, Austin City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution that sets up guidelines for responsible use of AI by city employees and entities. It calls for more public education about AI technologies and transparency around data use. It also prohibits the use of AI by the city in areas like real-time employee surveillance and automated policing, tasks the city manager to work with Austin Energy and Austin Water to conduct a regional environmental study focused on the projected growth of data centers, creates a “no displacement without consultation” labor policy, and more.
“Item 55 is a forward-looking resolution that positions Austin as a leader in the ethical AI,” said Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes, author of the resolution. “It recognizes the environmental impact of growing data centers, and calls for strategies to reduce their energy burden within Austin’s utility service areas. The resolution also tackles concerns about the digital divide and promotes digital equity and literacy, recognizing that without intentional planning, AI could deepen disparities in access and opportunity.” Fuentes says that transparency is another cornerstone of the initiative, and that resolution 55 will require the City of Austin to inform residents how their data is being used and how AI may affect them. The resolution also establishes ethical guardrails and risk assessments, including an annual public audit of City-deployed AI technologies. “Most importantly, Item 55 safeguards workers. It guarantees that no City employee will be displaced by AI without proper consultation and reinforces the commitment to job quality, worker privacy, and fair treatment. As Austin integrates AI into public services, this resolution ensures technology enhances, not replaces, our workforce,” Fuentes emphasizes.
Austin AI Alliance Board Member and VP of Responsible & Ethical AI Meme Styles, MPA, is the founder and president of MEASURE, an Austin-based nonprofit focused on data and evaluation services and data activism. Styles worked with Fuentes and her team to help bring a community-informed lens to the resolution. “Resolution 55 is about making sure Austin is thoughtful and community-centered as we adopt artificial intelligence in city government,” said Styles. “It pushes for clear guidelines around how AI is used, with special attention to things like transparency, workforce impact, environmental responsibility, and digital equity. It also emphasizes the importance of involving the public in those conversations from the beginning, not as an afterthought.”
When Mayor Pro Tem Fuentes put forth the resolution at the April 24th Austin City Council meeting, it was met with widespread support. The resolution passed unanimously — and the significance of that isn’t lost. “It means our city is ready to lead not just in innovation, but in responsibility,” Styles said. “The unanimous vote shows that this isn’t a niche concern.”
By acting now, the Austin City Council is putting standards in place to help ensure AI systems are built with input from the communities they impact in a way that is proactive rather than reactive. “AI is still about people,” said Styles, “…Putting guardrails in place now is how we make sure the technology actually helps people.”
When envisioning the future of AI adoption and use in our city, Fuentes looks forward to the potential impact of this resolution on advancing understanding of the environmental impact of our city’s data centers, training that helps workers prepare for the integration of AI technologies in city systems, and more in the next year. As far as longer-term impact, Fuentes wants to see leaps in accessible workforce training for all Austinites and access to the benefits AI technologies can provide in terms of efficiency, creativity, safety and infrastructure. “Over the next five to ten years, I envision the City taking steps to close the digital divide so that no community is left behind as technology advances,” she says. “Overall, the future of AI will improve the way the City solves complex problems from enhancing wildfire mitigation to making safer pedestrian bridges.”
Styles says she hopes one of the immediate impacts of the new resolution is the city truly listening to the community and creating new opportunities for residents to engage, ask questions, and provide input on how AI technologies are used. Meaningful action around community feedback will position Austin for greater impact going forward. “In five years, I hope we’ve built the infrastructure to keep things accountable: a strong oversight group, public-facing tools, and better transparency,” Styles emphasizes. Like Fuentes, she’s concerned with making sure AI benefits all constituents, not just a subset of the community, “I want Austin to be known as the city that didn’t just chase innovation but made sure it worked for everyone.”
Fuentes and Styles both see a need for the work the Austin AI Alliance does to foster collaboration among large and small technology companies, universities, nonprofits, government officials and entrepreneurs to advance responsible AI innovation. “The Alliance is here to make sure these conversations include everyone. As VP of Responsible and Ethical AI, it’s my job to push us beyond the usual suspects and bring in voices from the margins—folks who’ve historically been excluded from tech and policy spaces,” said Styles. She shares that the Austin AI Alliance played a role in helping to shape Resolution 55 by serving as a resource for diverse stakeholder perspectives, “We were proud to be invited early on this resolution and will keep working to make sure Austin builds tech with care, context, and community at the center.”
Fuentes, who spoke with the Austin AI Alliance network at its February 2025 State of AI in Austin event, appreciates the Alliance’s model, “I strongly believe in the power of cross-sector collaboration,” she said. “Each sector brings unique perspectives and resources. When we align those strengths around a shared goal of advancing responsible and equitable AI, we have the potential to create real, lasting impact.”
The Mayor Pro Tem encourages the Alliance to lean into its role as a convener, resource, and hub for innovation. “The Austin AI Alliance is uniting some of the brightest minds in AI to advance innovation responsibly. By serving as a resource and partner to local government, the Alliance can help position Austin as a global leader in ethical AI— from shaping policy to expanding AI literacy and preparing our workforce for the future.” Fuentes speaks to the value of creating forums that celebrate Austin’s talent and creative, collaborative culture, “By creating collaborative spaces where policymakers, researchers, entrepreneurs and community voices come together, Austin can set a global model — not just for AI innovation, but for how we do it with equity, ethics, and public benefit at the forefront.”
Fuentes encourages all Austinites to help shape how the city deploys AI and captures and uses data, and is working to create more opportunities for community input. Resolution 55 tasks the City Manager to build out a public awareness campaign that she envisions will be a new avenue to further engage around the City’s AI policies. All are invited to public hearings of Austin’s Technology Commission, which provides recommendations on digital access, technology issues, AI and emerging technologies to the City Council. Residents can also reach out to Fuentes directly,“You can lean on me as a council champion on Ethical AI – my door is always open,” she offers with genuine enthusiasm.
Resolution 55 is the start for responsible AI policy in Austin and a commitment to community needs and values that positions our hometown to pave the way for other cities. There’s much more work to be done, and much creativity, collaboration, and innovation to look forward to. “We have a long way to go, but this resolution gives us a real chance to do things differently,” said Styles. “Austin can be a model for how a city uses technology not just to be smarter, but to be more just, more connected, and more human.”
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About the writer: Stacey Ingram Kaleh is the Communications Co-Chair for the Austin AI Alliance, Associate Director of Partnerships and Programs for Good Systems – Ethical AI at UT Austin, and a fourth-generation Austinite.
Read more on this topic from KUT News in “Austin wants to improve its AI policies – and protections” and The Austin Monitor in “Council looks to expand AI policies, examine energy and water needs for data centers.”
The Austin AI Alliance is committed to cross-sector collaboration to advance responsible AI use and positive social impact. Members dedicated to responsible AI efforts range from the City of Austin’s Office of Innovation to data-driven advocacy organization MEASURE to UT Austin’s Good Systems — an interdisciplinary research grand challenge to design AI technologies for the benefit of society — to companies of all sizes. To learn more and request information, contact info@austin-ai.org.