Málaga, Dubai and Baghdad will be the first cities to test a United Nations guide for using artificial intelligence (AI) in municipal services, putting its safeguards into practice during 2027.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) launched the first release in Barcelona on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The publication, Guiding Principles and Frameworks for People-Centred Smart Cities in the AI Era, was developed through the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative for local governments considering AI in public services.
The guide organizes implementation into an eight-step cycle, moving from defining an urban problem and assessing options to measuring results and adapting or ending a project. A 100-day setup period gives city officials a starting window to assign oversight, document AI systems already in use and establish initial controls.
It recommends matching safeguards to a system’s potential effect on residents. A chatbot that provides office hours, for example, presents a different level of risk from a system that determines eligibility for a public service. Higher-impact uses call for stronger human oversight and ways to independently review decisions, the guide says.
Other recommendations include keeping an inventory of city AI systems, maintaining public information about their use and ensuring identifiable officials remain responsible for public decisions. The guide also calls for ways to challenge decisions and assisted access to essential services. It warns that poorly governed systems can deepen inequality, exclude residents or increase cities’ dependence on suppliers.
The pilot brings these recommendations into municipal testing, building on EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of human oversight for AI in city services. The guide says it complements existing international standards and national law rather than replacing them.
The U4SSC working group named Málaga, Dubai and Baghdad as the first pilot cities and is inviting other municipalities to take part. Cities can express interest and share feedback by March 31, 2027, as the 2027 testing proceeds.
