Fender Benders, Near Misses, Flat Tires and Checkered Flags – When Everyone Drives AI on the Road to Better Government.

About this session

I'll share our unconventional approach to giving our entire team access to GenAI —why humor and a sense of play helped, what the “fails” taught us, how we are overcoming “shadow” Ai usage when traditional IT governance slowed adoption, and our next steps in transforming public service for our region of 8 million people. Local and regional governments are under pressure to move faster, produce better outcomes, and do more with fewer resources. Generative Ai is an important part of transforming the public service sector, but can stall out when it collides with bureaucracy, old ways of thinking, and traditional IT governance. Come learn how we flipped the script and made AI tools accessible to our entire team instead of starting small and only giving access to an elite group. What happens when everyone gets a set of keys to the Ai car but not everyone wants to drive, or maybe your boss drives like your grandma, or the new hires drive like the Indy 500? I’ll share a few near misses, fender benders, and when our team was first over the line and grabbed the trophy. I'll also talk about how humor and a sense of play helped reduce employee anxiety about being replaced by Ai. And hopefully we'll have a little fun.