Several dozen randomly selected Snohomish County residents have delivered a set of specific, citizen-informed recommendations to the County Council on how local government should govern artificial intelligence. The civic assembly, funded by the county and facilitated by the nonprofit Civic Genius, aims to establish guardrails for AI use in government processes, programs, and communications as local agencies increasingly adopt the technology without published guidelines.
Documenting current AI use
Participants learned that local government workers already use AI for tasks ranging from drafting policy documents to reviewing grants, according to a recent Cascade PBS report. However, these applications are rarely documented or tracked. "I thought we were joining in at the beginning, but they are actually mature," said participant Bill Segesser. "We gotta create rules, but the train has already left the station."
Setting guardrails
After three weekends of learning and scenario planning, the assembly developed high-level recommendations centered on transparency, human oversight, and accountability. Transparency ranked first: residents demanded that government agencies clearly label AI-generated responses and offer a real person as an alternative. "If it's an AI response, just say it," said participant Sunny Behl.
The assembly emphasized that human oversight is a critical requirement for AI for Government, particularly in high-stakes areas like emergency response or public assistance reviews. Participants argued that predictive models should never operate without human review, noting that the cost of inaccuracy in public services is unacceptable.
Codifying values and next steps
The group codified seven core values, including human experience, self-determination, and equity. They emphasized that the county must hold responsibility for the outcomes of AI-led systems and cannot accept algorithms as an excuse for errors. Agreed-upon themes included conducting cost-benefit analyses before deploying new systems and creating clear remediation paths for constituents harmed by automated decisions.
County Councilmember Jared Mead attended the final voting session to thank the residents and confirm the report will move to the full council for review. The council plans to hold public meetings before voting to adopt some or all of the recommendations as formal ordinances. "I can't promise everyone will read it, but a majority of the council wants this," Mead said.
Why this matters for government workers
Local agencies are already deploying AI to manage shrinking budgets, making proactive governance essential rather than reactive. Government workers should expect their departments to adopt formal documentation, human-in-the-loop review processes, and strict vendor accountability measures in the coming months. Implementing these guardrails now will prevent costly errors and maintain public trust as automated tools become more prevalent in daily administrative tasks.
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