Google Unveils Updated AI Playbook for U.S. Mayors

Google is rolling out an updated 'Mayors AI Playbook' with the U.S. Conference of Mayors at its Winter Meeting in Washington, shifting from general AI awareness to a concrete blueprint for how cities should govern, procure and deploy AI tools. The guide lays out steps for building an 'AI‑ready city' — including governance structures, procurement practices and staffing — and highlights practical uses like multilingual resident communications, call‑center modernization, zoning‑verification automation in Miami, cyber‑threat triage in New York City and real‑time translation on San José’s 311 portal. Google openly treats the effort as customer acquisition for its cloud, data and cybersecurity stack at a time when many municipalities lack in‑house AI expertise and nearly half of local officials still view AI as a low priority, with 77% citing lack of awareness as the top barrier. The push comes amid fierce competition from Microsoft’s Copilot, OpenAI and Anthropic, all of which are courting public‑sector clients, and raises the risk that early‑adopter cities could lock into one vendor’s ecosystem for years. Advocates say AI can help overworked city staffs 'punch above their weight' if implemented responsibly, while critics online warn that vendor‑written playbooks could tilt local policies toward Big Tech’s interests unless cities build their own guardrails and oversight.