Lecture: Who controls AI in your city?

Technology is not neutral. Every decision made when designing and deploying digital systems has consequences – for users, for organisations and for society. But who decides which choices are made? And how can a city ensure that AI serves its own values, rather than those of a tech company based far outside Europe?

Now that AI is making its way into urban services and citizen participation, cities must make conscious choices about which systems they deploy – and on what terms. How does a government build digital sovereignty – not as an abstract ideal, but as a concrete administrative choice?