Productivity AutomationVerified

Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, June 30, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.

The City of Boston offers city employees access to generative AI tools for work tasks — such as drafting documents, summarizing text, and data analysis — governed by a formal Gen AI Policy that requires employees to complete basic training before accessing city-provided AI tools. Boston was one of the first major U.S. cities to release generative AI guidelines, initially in May 2023.

Details

The city's Gen AI Policy, published and updated on Boston.gov, defines acceptable and prohibited uses of generative AI for all city agencies and departments except Boston Public Schools. Prohibited uses include generating false or deceptive content, impersonating individuals without consent, and using external tools to summarize meetings without informed consent from all parties. A spring 2025 citywide survey found that about 6 in 10 respondents had tried generative AI, with 1 in 4 using it weekly at work. The policy requires employees to complete training before accessing city-provided AI tools and states that employees retain ultimate responsibility for their AI-assisted work product.

Products affected

City of Boston employee workflowsCity of Boston Gen AI Launchpad

Sources & Evidence

Company Disclosure

City of Boston Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) Policy | Boston.gov

City of Boston·Jun 2026

https://www.boston.gov/government/cabinets/innovation-and-technology/city-boston-generative-artificial-intelligence-gen-ai

Company Disclosure

Ensuring the Responsible Public Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence | Boston.gov

City of Boston·Dec 2025

https://www.boston.gov/news/ensuring-responsible-public-use-generative-artificial-intelligence

Company Disclosure

City of Boston Interim Guidelines for Using Generative AI Version 1.1

City of Boston·May 2023

https://www.boston.gov/sites/default/files/file/2023/05/Guidelines-for-Using-Generative-AI-2023.pdf

Cite this record

Trace Foundation. (2026). City of Boston: The City of Boston offers city employees access to generative AI tools for work tasks — such as drafting documents, summarizing text, and data analysis — governed by a formal Gen AI Policy that requires employees to complete basic training before accessing city-provided AI tools. Boston was one of the first major U.S. cities to release generative AI guidelines, initially in May 2023 (data as of 2026-06-30) [Data set record]. AI Trace. https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/7c5e785c-7140-4bd3-a2e8-e0eced5d4487. Accessed October 4, 2026.

Stable link: https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/7c5e785c-7140-4bd3-a2e8-e0eced5d4487
Data as of: June 30, 2026
Last verified: Not recorded

How to cite AI Trace

Other practices by City of Boston

Customer SvcThe City of Boston integrated an AI-native platform called Creatio into its 311 non-emergency services system, replacing a legacy system that had operated since 2008. The new platform uses predictive machine learning to recommend next steps in service workflows and generative AI to support natural language interactions between staff and the system.ProductivityThe City of Boston used Google's Gemini 1.5 Pro large language model to automatically generate descriptive titles for more than 1,100 City Council roll call vote records spanning the past 16 years, making historical voting data easier for residents to browse. The city described this as its first public use of generative AI on Boston.gov, launched in May 2024.Customer SvcThe City of Boston deployed a beta AI search feature on Boston.gov, powered by Google Gemini, that gives residents direct answers to questions about city services rather than a list of links. As of December 2025, the feature is live on the 60 most visited pages of Boston.gov.

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