Transcript: Mayor Adams Releases First-of-Its-Kind Plan for Responsible Artificial Intelligence Use in NYC Government

October 16, 2023

Matt Fraser, Chief Technology Officer: Good morning, everyone. I'm Matt Fraser, I'm the chief technology officer for New York City. And when the mayor took seat last year and we stepped into office, one of the things that he did was he created an office of tech and innovation with the sole focus on making technology smarter and looking at how the city embraces not just existing technology but new technology.

Today we're here to talk about how we are leveraging artificial intelligence and how we will merge into that side of the space. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce The Honorable Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much, Matt. It's amazing how you have just really absorbed the vision that we had on how to move technology to make life easier for New Yorkers but to allow everyday public servants to deliver the goods and services that we need for our city to function. Our city had a real 8‑track mindset in an iPhone age, and you embraced this wholly. We cannot thank you enough.

This is going to be a different city after this administration is done because of the leadership of you and your team. I know many of your team members are here to celebrate what we're doing. This is a huge, huge step forward. What's different from New York City and other municipalities is that we are not running away from AI, we are going to properly govern how we use AI in a responsible way.

And we said this from day one: this administration has been keeping New York City ahead of the curve in so many ways. As a techie and a former computer programmer, I know what technology can do, and I'm really excited about the announcement that you're making today with our partners. This is really about lifting the boulder of bureaucracy. People should not be afraid to interact with government. Many people would rather lay on a bed of nails then having to call the government agency to just get basic questions.

Everyone knows about, you know, they could tell you the songs that they hear when they're on hold for half an hour waiting for someone to pick up. This is just not how you run a city. We must catch up, we must move faster. And some of our partners here understand that like Councilwoman Julie Menin who's always coming up with a good idea. And I don't know if he's here, our Assemblymember Vanel who's a real embracer of new technology.

We want to think more innovatively about challenges and using the right technology the right way and be responsible when we do it. You could use or abuse anything. And if we stay away from moving forward because we're afraid of someone's going to abuse it, you won't get anything done. And this administration is not about sitting around, we're about getting things done. So, the right technology in the right way will move us in the right to direction.

And today we are making another bold step forward with the release of our groundbreaking New York City Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. New York City's AI Action Plan is the first of its kind from a major city in the United States, and you hear that all the time, "first of its kind," first of its kind, first of its kind, because we're not afraid to challenge and to move us in the right direction.

It will cement our position as a leader in responsible AI use. Artificial intelligence presents a once in generation opportunity for governments to deliver better services to New Yorkers. But we must be clear‑eyed about its potential and pitfalls, and our plan takes that into account, will provide a framework for government to carefully evaluate AI‑based tools and protect against risk. It will build AI knowledge and skills across city government, and it will support responsible implementation to improve quality of life for New Yorkers.

And we know of the term "AI" can cause anxiety, we hear it all the time. People think all of a sudden you're going to have a Terminator type figure come in and take over government and displace human beings. That's just not the reality. Take a deep breath, get a grip. It is going to help us function better in this city.

New Yorkers should know that we're going to make sure that we have security, transparency and responsibility at the top of our priorities. New York City needs to lead the nation in thinking about these issues, because AI is already here and it's in your life every day. We don't even realize it when you use your smart phones, when you go about retrieving different items, purchasing. This is all part of the AI that you don't see. This is not time to run away but it's a time to run towards and properly governed AI, and that's what CTO Fraser and his team is showing us, the right direction to do so.

And so to sort of give you the sense of the kind of AI‑based tools we think can improve city government today, we are launching the next phase of MyCity with the MyCity business site and chatbot. MyCity was a dream that the CTO put together. We eventually will have a tool where everyone in the city can access government in a more user friendly way.

And we rolled out the first phase with childcare sign‑up, the second phase we are announcing today with our business community who dread having to take hours away from their business or to start a business without getting the needed quick information, and that is what the MyCity business site and chatbot is going to do.

MyCity is New York City's one‑stop shop for city services and benefits. For the first time, business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs will be able to direct their questions to an AI‑powered chatbot rather than scan through Web page after Web page, going into the black hole of uncertainty of how to open a business, how to run a business, how to answer some of the basic questions.

That is behind us; AI‑generated answering is in front of us. MyCity business pulls information from more than 2,000 New York City business Web pages all in one place, helping small business owners comply with code, find incentives, apply for permits and learn best practices ‑‑ all while allowing entrepreneurs to spend their time growing their business and powering our city's economic recovery.

It's just one of the ways of this administration is using technology to make the city and make life in the city better. We will keep pushing forward to keep New York City in the lead. This is what it looks like to get tech done right.

And I just really want to thank Commissioner Kim. This is a dream for you to get this done correctly. And again, our CTO, our leader in this area, Matt Fraser, is really transforming our city in a real way. And our partners in government. We can't do this alone. As I indicated, Councilwoman...why am I getting a...

Julie Menin, Councilwoman Menin and Vanel, my good friend, assemblymember, and others who have embraced technology in a real way. So, let's get it done. Let's not be afraid. Let's embrace. Thank you.

Fraser: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, as the Mayor said, what we're looking at here, this isn't the age of the Terminators. I'm a kid of the eighties. When you first heard about artificial intelligence, at least since I was a kid, it was watching the Terminator movie looking at Skynet and looking at robots coming to take over the earth. That's not what we're talking about here.

As government, there are ways that we can do things much smarter, and artificial intelligence will help us get there. If you look across the industry, whether it's cybersecurity or it's in the financial sector, artificial intelligence is one of the things that's existed in smaller ways, in ways that you're familiar with but we haven't brought it to government services.

If you think about at home in a mailer, you may get a preapproval notice for a credit card saying that you're pre approved and here's the limit that you're approved to. Why can't we do similar things for public benefit? So, if we know that you're qualified, why can't we give you preapproval so that gives you easier access to public benefits?

When we started as an administration, one of the things that we focused on was making technology smarter for the people that needed it and easier for the people that needed it. That's why in the first go round one of things that we focused on first was making sure that New Yorkers were connected, going through with Big Apple Connect to make sure that in households like public housing where over 40 percent of those didn't have access connectivity, they now do. Then we followed up with childcare to make sure that those that live in communities that need access to childcare and they were entitled to subsidies that we made that process easier.

Today we're talking about how we're making it easier for the business community, those that are looking to grow and build businesses here, making it easier to get them access to resources and to government services. This is not technology for the sake of technology, this is technology for the sake of making lives for New Yorkers a lot easier.

The AI Action Plan that we laid out currently has 37 actions, but this administration's about getting results today, which is why 27 of those actions will be completed within the next year. In addition to that, when we look at where else we want to leverage artificial intelligence, this will be the city's first instance where we take a big, broad emerging technology, we create a framework that governs how it's deployed across the entire city and we work collaboratively to drive outcomes. Again, this is technology that's focused on making the quality of life and interactions with government much simpler for those that live and work here.

In addition to that, I think it's very important to hear from the business part of the community, and I'd like to introduce our commissioner for Small Business Services, Kevin Kim, who will give us the business perspective.

Commissioner Kevin Kim, Department of Small Business Services: Thank you, CTO Fraser; and Mayor Adams, thank you so much for always looking for ways to make small business owners' lives easier and making New York City truly a city of yes for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

As commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services I've had the privilege of being able to go around the city and talking with hundreds of small business owners and really being inspired by many of them. Some of them you'll see right here standing here, members of the Mayor's Small Business Advisory Commission — thank you, SBAC members for your input in the user research portion of this.

We know that these business owners have shared with me mostly two of their biggest challenges: one is accessing capital; and, two is figuring out just how to navigate the many channels of government. And that's why I'm really thrilled to be here today to announce our game changing new MyCity business site which directly addresses both of those big challenges.

In addition to being more user friendly, this new site features NYC Funds Finder — the city's first ever online one‑stop shop capital marketplace for business owners. It's actually also the first ever Funds Finder in the entire country. And this was done in collaboration with the federal government, MasterCard and Next Street, another example of the public/private partnership that the Mayor has emphasized for us. This is a place where small businesses can find a full range of loans in one place while also being able to schedule with our SBS team appointments for free one‑on‑one assistance.

Now, at SBS we know as well as anyone that for small business owners time is money, and this is where the AI chatbot comes in. As the Mayor said, there are 2,000 pages of information on the MyCity business site. It covers anything from compliance with regulations to business incentives and best practices to avoid fines.

And now thanks to the chatbot — your new executive assistant — you will never have to waste time ever again going page to page looking for the information you want and need. No more Googling, no more visiting multiple sites and no more broken links. It doesn't put you on hold, and because it's in the city that never sleeps, it's available 24/7.

The AI chatbot is a one‑stop guide for business owners that instantly delivers all the information you need in one place. All you have to do is ask ‑‑ if only the rest of life were that simple.

This is a prime example of what the Mayor envisioned when he mapped out a blueprint for agency collaboration, and this is what the Mayor's Small Business Advisory Commission called for in its report published last June, and this is what Councilmember Julie Menin — who is here with us today — laid out in her 2022 bill: create a one‑stop shop that small businesses can use to easily navigate government.

SBS was excited to work with CTO Fraser and OTI to bring the AI chatbot to life and proud to be an integral part of developing responsible AI that works for all New York City business owners. Without much further ado, please allow me to demonstrate the AI chatbot in action.

Now, we know that New York City is "the" food capital of the universe, so let's ask the AI chatbot, how do you start a restaurant? Oh.

Mayor Adams: Ask him, who's the best mayor?

Commissioner Kim: That would be the next question. How do I start a restaurant in New York City? As you can see, it provides all the steps in just one place, the basics, and even what kind of licenses and permits do I need to get. The system is extremely responsive and specific, and it provides information in one place and links to resources. This is revolutionary for business owners; and as the Mayor said, the first of its kind in the country.

But don't take it from me, let's hear it from a real business owner who built her business before this chatbot ever existed. It's my pleasure to introduce to you a business woman restaurateur and published author, an incredible Staten Island business owner who actually started her business after Hurricane Sandy selling food outside our house and then welcoming people inside our house. Now she owns a great storefront in Staten Island called Shaw‑naé's House. So, let me introduce you to Shawnaé Dixon.

Shaw-naé Dixon: Those are my babies, mayor. Yes. Good day, everyone. My name is Shawnaé Dixon and I am a passionate restaurant owner on Staten Island. I am also an eighth generation direct descendant to the first free Black to purchase property on Staten Island, which is a part of the Sandy Ground community where it was also the haven that helped with the Underground Railroad and assisted the slaves in their seeking their own freedom and being able to also tap into their entrepreneur spirits, because they were also oyster men and the first Black settlers and farmers.

That was a blessing to me; obviously, it was a part of my entrepreneurial spirit for me to decide to tap into whatever it was that I felt passionate about. And I was a teacher for 10 and a half years with the New York City Department of Education when I decided to jump into this pretty demon here, this restaurant that I decided to open up in Stapleton.

And that was exciting but also it was equally very daunting, because I decided to open up my restaurant during the pandemic, and that was in the wake of it when there was no dining and there was no picking up and there was no coming inside. And so I wanted to try to seek the information, that became very difficult, because in‑person visits, going to get information from people, filling out applications was all very time consuming. And as much as I wanted to get out there and get those things done, there were always obstacles.

I am super grateful for being able to be still existing in the business on Staten Island and doing something really powerful — my legacy — but what is also really amazing is that my guy, Commissioner Kim, introduced me to a wealth of information, knowledge and resources through the Small Business Services programs. Everything that has been brought to me has been extremely helpful and pivotal in me becoming a better business woman.

It is very difficult to try to spend time building your business when you have to go running out, and so why not trust Mr. Matt Fraser, the dopest guy that I know who has created the artificial intelligence through the MyCity.gov platform, which is not intimidating to me at all. I'm able to jump onto this website here, which I use every single day and treat it like a diary, we have a relationship.

And I type things inside of that browser on the bottom and I ask it all of the questions that I need answered and it answers my questions. And it will, because of protection and because you're doing a fabulous job in preparing that responsible site, it does not allow you to go outside of what it needs to provide to you in order for you to stay key in what it is that you're researching, and that's powerful also.

And so I am extremely grateful for the Small Business Services team and also for Matt Fraser and his team in the technology innovations office as well as our wonderful and gracious Mayor Adams for putting together some time, some resources and the opportunities for business owners to become graduates of their skills and promote more to being powerful entrepreneurs here and being productive and also getting things done. AI has helped. I appreciate you.

Fraser: So, as you heard from the good Commissioner Kim and as you heard from Shawnaé, this is, again, technology that's not built to serve itself, it's technology that's built to serve the people. And as the Mayor has pushed as being the leader for the city that when we do anything, whether it's a technology program or business operations program, it has to be a whole of government approach.

In order to get this site out, in order to get the content out and in order to make sure that it was right, one of the first things that happened as the administration took seat was Commissioner Kim came to me and said, the business community deserves better. We need better. And how can we get them better as quickly as we can?

And what we did within a year is we brought this site forward. But not only did we build something, we used the business community to make sure that it was right. It's a whole of government approach. And we as part of the mayoral administration can't get it done without our government partners. So, I'd like to introduce Councilwoman Julie Menin, who will talk a little bit about what she's done to help us.

City Councilmember Julie Menin: Thank you so much, Matt. I really want to thank Mayor Adams and Commissioner Kim and Matt Fraser for this announcement today. It is incredibly exciting. It's really a dual announcement, obviously, with the Artificial Intelligence Action Plan which I'm so excited to read. I just have to say as a mom of teenage boys, I knew about AI and ChatGPT very early, because my teenage boys one day came home and said, mom, look at this. I can do a paper that's even better than the one that I write.

I was like, this is not so cool. Okay, I'm not down with this at all. But in all seriousness, I use ChatGPT all the time and it's incredible. And this announcement today that positions New York City at the forefront of AI, making sure we have socially responsible use, is incredibly important. I'm actually introducing a couple of bills on AI, so I look forward to partnering with the Mayor on that and this incredible action plan.

But the other announcement here today, of course, is on the small business portal. Earlier the Mayor signed last year my bill to create the one‑stop shop portal. This function today is really incredible. I want to thank you, Shawnaé, for speaking so eloquently about it. I'm a former small business owner. Every second counts when you own a small business, every second.

And the fact that now you can go on to this ChatGPT box and ask a question, you no longer have to take an afternoon off work to go down to one of the licensing centers, you can ask government the question in real time and get an answer. So, thank you, Mayor Adams for this. Thank you, Commissioner Kim and Matt Fraser. This is really incredible.

Fraser: As another example of the cross government partnership, I'd like to introduce Assemblymember Clyde Vanel.

State Assemblymember Clyde Vanel: First of all, I'd like to thank and look at the leadership of CTO Fraser, you know, Commissioner Kim, Councilwoman Menin. But the vision — and this is about vision and leadership — you know, the Mayor had the vision and leadership to say, how do we make sure that we take care of New Yorkers better? How do we make sure that we don't only give people fish, we give them a boat.

In this situation, this is about economic development. It's about making it easier for businesses to stay in New York. It's about making it easier for people to start a business. It's not about the technology, the technology just a means to get there. And with the advent and seeing how the accessibility of generative AI, seeing how large language models are being used, seeing how fast deep learning and machine learning is happening, this administration is making sure that we use these tools to make it easier for New Yorkers and make it better for New Yorkers.

So, we applaud what's happening here in the city not only its use but also to make sure that there's responsible use of AI. So, I like to thank the Mayor and the administration for doing what we're doing here. Today's a great day in New York to show that we are leading the world in these uses and for government use. So, thank you for doing all that you do

Mayor Adams: And I think one of the most important things is that...which is crucial, because one of the dangers of AI is that if you allow someone to search the entire Internet, there is so much misinformation. But what we learned during our chatbot summit when we brought in chatbot users and AI users to Gracie Mansion to do a presentation, that you can limit the place where people can gather the information.

So, we are controlling, not allowing people to go outside the span of what we know is accurate information to make sure people are getting the right answers. So, if you speak with our chatbot, it's going to make sure the information we give you is the accurate and correct information. You're not going to just go out there to the entire universe of the Internet and come back with misinformation.

And that is what's very important as we continue to expand this, as we expand it to other fields of government to answer questions in the Department of Education and New York City Police Department, ACS. We're going to be able to limited to only the information that we know was accurate, and that is so important, and that is why this is a powerful tool. No more searching through mounds and mounds of websites not to get what you're looking for.

And the beauty of this tool, it becomes smarter and smarter and smarter, as you said, developing that personal relationship. There's going to come a time when, you know, your sign on is going to say, how are you, Eric? What is the question that you want answered? There's some good stuff. You know, some good stuff. Great job, man. Great job. Answer a few on topic questions.

Question: Mr. Mayor, with a quarter of New Yorkers not proficient in English, why will we roll this out in English, and is there a plan to add other languages to this? And what is the overall cost [inaudible].

Mayor Adams: I love that question. We have started doing, which I'm really excited about, we have started doing robocalls with my voice in many different languages. People stop me on the street all the time and say, I didn't know you speak Mandarin, you know? The robocalls that we're using, we're using different languages to speak directly to the diversity of New Yorkers. This is going to do the same thing.

This is the first phase. We're going to...the joy of this, you know, that's what your question is so important. The joy of this that we're going to eventually have it that if you are a Spanish speaker you could get this answered in the language that you speak in, because if you are Spanish speaking, you have to call SBS and you don't have someone that can immediately translate for you, that is going to hold up your business.

We want to have this answer the hundreds of languages that are out there, and that's where we're going. This is this first rollout. We're going to continue to do new iterations like that iPhone was an iPhone 1, now we're up to an iPhone 13. We're going to continue to [find the] product. But any New Yorker, any language is going to be able to call and get the response they want in the language that they speak, which is amazing.

Question: One of the concerns people have with AI and one of the things that I think many people see as an advantage to it is the efficiency that it can bring, right? So, on one hand people are concerned about, you know, a lot of jobs being lost ultimately as AI becomes more prevalent.

From your perspective, you know, how do you address that? And also it can be used to make city government run more efficiently, like how do you balance and how do you kind of plan to address both of those things long term?

Mayor Adams: Yes. No, and that's a valid question, because immediately when you think of AI people think that, okay, are you trying to displace or replace human beings. It's just the opposite. Imagine our call centers, particularly 311 and 211, an overwhelming number of those calls are just for information. So, instead of having those call takers have to answer just the basic information, now we are going to decrease wait times and have those callers be able to get back to New Yorkers right away.

So, this is not a tool we're going to use to displace manpower, we want to actually allow the efficiency and a faster turnaround time for New Yorkers. You know, this is not going to bring down our population of employees, this is given them a real tool. It's almost like if you are a banker, instead of you having to add numbers in your head you can use a calculator. We're not going to displace that human element, we're just allowing you to do your job faster.

Question: Two questions. First is, how are they recording your voice in different languages?

Mayor Adams: This stuff is... When we did the bot summit it blew my mind. They called 311 and they had someone on there say hi, how can I help you? I said, that's me! You know, it was conversational. Conversational AI is amazing. Once you put the script in, you could put it in any language you want, with my voice. So, that's why we have to be concerned about the abuse of it but we want the proper use.

So, we don't want the fear of the abuse to get in the way of the proper use. When we were able to send our calls in Yiddish in my voice telling people about job placements, we were using the tool properly. And we want to always monitor that. But this is some amazing technology that we need to wrap our heads around and not be afraid of.

Question: My second question, I don't know if maybe CTO Fraser could talk about what other city agencies do you think could utilize something like this chatbot in answering questions?

Mayor Adams: You want to...

Fraser: Sure thing. So, as the Mayor mentioned, our largest portal for in taking questions is 311. 311 is, if you look at it by stats, probably the nation's largest information line. Over 70 percent of the call volume that comes in to 311 is someone calling asking a question ‑‑ meaning, there's nothing tangible for an agency to, do they're looking to get information out.

So, when we look at leveraging artificial intelligence and tools like this, one of the big benefits that we see is that instead of someone having to wait on hold for a minute ,two minutes, three minutes ‑‑, whatever that hold time is ‑‑ they can get an answer immediately. So, when they're calling for something tangible like a service or an ask or they want something, they can get a more expedient response to that question as it comes.

So, in terms of what other agencies can use this, we see this as something that can be generally used across the entire city where we're offering any type of service. And right now we have the voice lines mostly consolidating into 311. We will eventually expand so that all services will be serviced through a bot very similar to this.

Question: Going back to the question about people. I wonder, when people usually call lines they have very specific questions that can't just be answered by typing in. I know I've had that experience. How does this work into that? If you're like, I have this problem, it's with a second problem and a third problem, something like this wouldn't be super helpful without talking to somebody on the line.

Mayor Adams: And that was what I presented to Matt. When you look at the number of calls, as CTO Fraser stated, 70 percent of the calls, people are just trying to get information. That 30 percent, you have the human element. If the bot can't help with what you're looking for, we're going to connect you to a human being for the specificity of some of the things that you're looking for.

But 70 percent is just, hey, is alternate side of the street parking canceled? How do I start my business? How do I apply for a permit for X? So, we could answer that automatically, accurately without people having to go through a website. And many people can't navigate these websites. If you've ever tried to learn how to open a business and you see how many different websites you have to go to and how many places you have to go to, it's just really challenging.

This is a one‑stop shop for the information you're looking for in a very easy way to absorb it, as our business owner stated. She'd rather spend time hanging out with her two sons instead of having to try to navigate the 2,000 websites that you have to do. And that's what...the humans are still there. The humans are not going anywhere, they're going to be around a long time, you know. But we're going to complement the human interaction with using this great form of artificial intelligence.

Question: How much does it cost?

Mayor Adams: The dollar amount?

Fraser: So, in terms of cost, the cost will fluctuate depending on use. So, like any sort of computer resource, it's highly dependent on utilization. So, in terms of the specific metrics of how much it will cost depending on projected volume, we can share something with that. It's hard to tell you until we see volume.

Question: How much have you spent thus far?

Fraser: How much have we spent thus far...

Question: To design the platform.

Fraser: We can follow up with that and get you that particular stat. All right? Because, and the reason why I say that is, when you look at the MyCity universe itself, it's childcare, it's business, it's Health and Human Services. So, for this particular component we can follow up offline and get that to you.

Question: Related to that, actually, do you know the contract [inaudible] was this like IBM or was this create internally? And then additionally, speaking about internally, we heard about how New Yorkers will use this with the chatbot, does the plan include any internal government uses of AI and have any been launched yet.

Mayor Adams: We are, what, 21 months in. You are going to see a drastic change in the functionality of government in this city by the time this administration is over. Everything is on the table, from processing how we handle cash assistance, how we handle the review of contracts, our procurements. We are really looking to transform the boulder of bureaucracy in government.

And it is priceless, as we talk about the cost analysis, it is priceless to a person who's attempting to access government that government felt friendly and not frustrating. And so we are looking internally. It's taking too long to do procurement. It should not take this long. It takes too long to build a bathroom in parks. It takes too long to get an architectural drawing approved in Department of Building.

Government should not take this long, and we want to cut things not by 50 percent but 25 percent. We can run cities better. And we're not going to do it all, but we're going to darn sure put this city on the pathway of being more efficient, more reliable and more user friendly for everyday New Yorkers.

New Yorkers should not dread interacting with government. If you go to the average New Yorker, they'll tell you they would rather not have to deal with government. We want to turn that around. We want people to say, I'd rather go to government to get these questions answered, as our entrepreneur stated.

Question: Who created this chatbot? I mean, was it an external contract or internal?

Fraser: So, the chatbot and the website, it's been led by an internal development team with outside partnerships. In the background, there's a lot of technology that's being used. The actual interface that's used for the chatbot is through Microsoft and their partnership with OpenAI. But one of the things that we did when we deployed this and we looked to emerge in this space, we wanted to ensure that we did it safely, securely, and any information that went in, it was containerized so that no one else would get access to it. So, that's pretty much the answer. Anything else?

Question: I've got a question about your Yiddish speaking...

Mayor Adams: I knew you were going to be excited about that.

Question: ...I see the practical kind of implementation of it, how it's useful, but there's a suggestion to it that you know all these languages, so like with AI kind of there's this question of like, the truth, right? Like people are going to hear that and be like, this guy, he speaks so many languages...

But in fact like, you know, you don't, right? Are you concerned about that, or like I mean, you guys kind of discussed that. I know it's a philosophical question...

Mayor Adams: No, no, and it's a good question. I think it's a good question. And so I think it's a great question, and I think that it is part of the overall conversation about the use of artificial intelligence, because we have to weigh something. We have to weigh that do we want to reach all New Yorkers who have historically been locked out? There are so many New Yorkers that would pick up their phone when they hear a robocall, and they don't know what the robocall is saying. They don't know that down the block from them we're having a hiring hall that they're open to.

When we went to those hiring halls and I heard people who speak Bengali, when I heard people who speak Urdu, when I heard people speak Spanish and say, we heard, they translated, we heard your robocall in our language. We are becoming more welcoming by utilizing technology to speak in a multitude of languages. We move through this city and we understand English, but that's not the reality for a lot of New Yorkers, and they're not getting services and access to government because we're not communicating with them.

So, I was excited when I can have my voice go over the phone to a person who speaks Mandarin, and they were able to hear their Mayor speak to them in their language and say, come to this hiring hall.

Question: Did you tell them, though, that you don't speak Mandarin?

Mayor Adams: No, we don't do... We don't do a, Hi, this is Mayor Adams and I don't speak Mandarin, this is an AI that's speaking to you right now. Well, you know, sometimes, you may find it hard to believe that sometimes you call for services and you're getting an AI response. All you know at the end of the time that you called for those services you got the answer to your question. You could care less if it was a machine or if it was actually a human being. All you know when you hung up, I got the answer to my question.

And so these are part of the broader conversations that the philosophical people who have to sit down and figure out, you know, is this ethically right or wrong. I got one thing: I've got to run the city, and I have to be able to speak to people in the languages that they understand, and I'm happy to do so. And so, to all, all I can say is a ni hao.