City agencies are being asked to develop a set of standards and guidance for using artificial intelligence technology.

A recent audit from the state comptroller’s office showed that New York City lacks an effective structure and standards for using AI, adding that it doesn’t ensure transparency and accuracy.

The audit also revealed that while agencies must disclose the use of AI, there were some instances where the tools were not publicly reported because they were in a pilot phase.

The state comptroller’s office made several recommendations, including to establish a framework to assess the risks of AI.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli joined Errol Louis on “Inside City Hall” Thursday to discuss AI technology within the city and budget negotiations.

DiNapoli said they felt it was “appropriate” to take a look at city agencies over time when it came to this technology.

He added that the de Blasio administration had a strategy to come up with governance and guidelines, yet “more decentralized” in terms of each agency developing their own guidelines.

Meanwhile under the Adams administration, they created an office for technology and innovation, which DiNapoli said is a more “effective, holistic approach.”

“So I think it was timely for us to do the audit and the recommendations really get to the basics of governance,” he said.

According to DiNapoli, they looked at four city agencies: Children’s Services, the NYPD, Department of Education and Department of Buildings.

He said they found various levels of development of this kind of governance and oversight. 

DiNapoli said in their audit, he believes that “it was acknowledged that the recommendations made sense.” He added that the new office can use these recommendations to further develop the system.

“We want to make sure that this system is going to work and not hurt people,” he said.

According to DiNapoli, there’s a lot that needs to be learned with this technology.

“We’re seeing how rapidly the technology is advancing and we know from past practices that issues of bias, particularly against Black and brown communities have been an issue,” he said.

DiNapoli said it’s important to ensure that services are using AI technology in an effective and appropriate way.

When asked if the legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul should rely on the funding for the current budget, he said his general view is “the money doesn’t come in as predicted by those pushing for it.”

“It’s still the basics of, you know, for the state, personal income, tax revenue is still the key revenue, business tax collections, those are going to be the fundamentals,” DiNapoli continued. “And that’s what we’re going to have to look closely at and the uncertainty in the economy right now.”