Artificial intelligence is becoming more of an everyday tool for a lot of people. But, like most new technologies, it comes with a bit of pushback. The city of St. Petersburg is trying to get ahead of the curve, by holding an AI open house to ask residents how they feel about its use.
Michelle Lancaster of St. Petersburg looked a little bewildered as she scanned the packed room at the Barack Obama Library Tuesday night.
"I'm illiterate. I'm bankrupt when it comes to technology," she said. "I wasn't raised with it."
She described herself as "turning three-quarters of a century" soon. Still, Lancaster thinks AI can be a big help to technology-challenged people like her.
As part of an exercise where participants write their thoughts on individual colored sticky notes and place them on a shared wall, she wrote on one and placed it on a board that asked 'What opportunities or benefits of AI excite you?'
"I put convenience and the ease of accomplishing a task," Lancaster said. "I mean, it's supposed to make your life easy, but not for people that don't really know technology."
Nearby, Rob Middleton was pondering what to write on his sticky notes. He works for the Pinellas Tax Collector's office, where he said he uses AI to help write reports, so he's familiar with it.
"I'm pretty sure you have the people out there who are about the Terminators and all the, what's that old Terminator movies, so they're really scared about it," he said, "but sometimes you have to be open to change."
Middleton said the city's open house is an opportunity for people to divulge their true feelings about AI.
"Most people are really concerned about privacy, because that's what I'm looking at all the boards right now," he said. "I'm really looking at the privacy concerns. Is there going to be another camera that's going to be monitored in my face? We have to look at these opportunities as ways to help us improve our daily life."
Mayor Ken Welch said he recently started an AI task force to make sure there are safeguards around how city employees use the technology.
"We are in a really exciting time," he said outside the open house. "You think about the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, or the computer revolution of the late 80's. The AI revolution tops all of those, and so we're at the beginning of that."
St. Petersburg has some basic rules on using generative AI programs. David Thompson is director of government affairs and co-chairs the AI task force.
"So the city actually has a pretty limited use of AI right now and that's intentional," Thompson said. "Before we actually bring these systems on broader, we want to make sure first they're safe and secure, and that we have resident feedback and we understand what they want to use AI for."
Back in the open house, Ali Mulla gave his feedback.
"It uses a lot of energy waste, has a really large environmental footprint," he said. "So I don't have the problem with the actual technology, but the way it's being handled right now, I think it's a bit concerning."
AI requires data centers to be built to to keep up with the demand. But they use large amounts of electricity and water needed for cooling. Concerns are mounting not only in Florida - but nationwide - about where these data centers would be built. And whether electricity bills will then skyrocket.
And the Florida Department of Education is proposing a rule to require all public colleges in the state to adopt policies addressing artificial intelligence.
At least one of the sticky notes said the writer was concerned about using AI as a justification to build data centers. Another mentioned the environmental cost. But as Rob Middleton pointed out, several of the sticky notes mentioned fear of "losing privacy". He said it's among his fears, too. And he hopes the city will take the concern into consideration.
"I'm just hoping that everything that we put in place always considers the people," he said. "The people must come first."
The city is asking St. Pete residents to fill out an online survey. It plans to use the feedback to create an AI policy.
