MML Review Magazine Winter 2026

STAYING AHEAD OF A.I.: RESPONSIBLE USE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

By Trevor Odelberg

Last year, the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy partnered with the Michigan Municipal League to create the Artificial Intelligence Handbook for Local Government; I was the lead author. It offers a plain-English guide for public servants to understand the risks and benefits of using A.I. to better serve their communities. It demystifies A.I., highlights potential use cases, and promotes A.I. literacy and risk reduction when evaluating A.I. tools. As there are no comprehensive federal laws on A.I., and few at the state level, we hope the handbook will help municipalities develop their own proactive standards for responsible A.I. use and thoughtful experimentation. The handbook continues to draw attention, with more than 600 downloads and interest from organizations beyond Michigan. However, given the rapid pace of A.I., the recommendations in the handbook reflected a snapshot of that moment and were likely to evolve. Since... then, we have continued... observation of how people are using A.I., leads us to suggest additional recommendations.

Arti f i cial Intelligence Handbook for Local Government

Author: Trevor Odelberg Contributors (Alphabetical):

Kristin Burgard Molly Kleinman Tony Minghine Richard Murphy Terry Nguyen Tracey Van Dusen Kelly Warren Dene Westbrook

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