The AI-ization of Cities: Neural Networks Help Pilgrims and Archive Workers

Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly integral part of everyday urban life around the world, helping residents handle routine tasks and freeing public employees from repetitive work. Anton Zubkov, Head of Project Support at the Official Portal of the Mayor and the Government of Moscow, Moscow Department of Information Technologies, explained how this is happening in the Russian capital.

According to Zubkov, the day is approaching when users of government services will no longer need to remember the names of specific services. Smart technology will help them find the right solution to their problems. The system will even remind people about things they might otherwise forget, such as an upcoming passport expiration date. AI can also automate routine tasks. For example, when a family moves to another district, the system could automatically register its members with a local clinic and enroll children in a school or kindergarten. Zubkov said the most important measure of success is growing public trust in AI tools.

Fadwa Saad Abdulrahman AlBawardi, Chief Executive Officer of Fadwa Saad Abdulrahman AlBawardi Consulting in Saudi Arabia, offered another example of how AI can make life more convenient for residents and visitors in major cities.

“Every year, the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia receives millions of pilgrims. When you look at the ecosystem that has enabled us to integrate all the data needed to accommodate them, you realize how complex the task is. The government has succeeded: we have integrated systems that monitor the movement of large crowds, waste processing and food management. We do everything we can to keep traffic flowing smoothly. It is a great success story. If there are researchers among you, I would recommend reading more about this experience,” she said.

AlBawardi also highlighted other Saudi achievements in AI and smart-city development, including online services that eliminate queues, a digital assistant for citizens and the Ministry of Justice’s transition to paperless operations.

There is also a social dimension to this work. Antonio Carvalho e Silva Neto, President of the Brazilian National Association of Municipal Secretaries of Innovation, believes digital technologies can improve communication between governments and residents. Public authorities, he said, should use the digital platforms that people already know and use widely to discuss issues that matter to local communities.

Alexander Komendant, First Deputy Chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, described Belarus’s experience with digital technology. According to Komendant, the capital is reaching a new stage of digital maturity. The way Minsk residents interact with the city is changing: first-line help desk operators are being replaced by interactive voice assistants, whose main advantages are round-the-clock availability and minimal waiting times. Minsk is also digitizing handwritten archival documents, freeing employees from hours of manual data entry. Computer vision is being used to identify road surface defects and monitor the upkeep of courtyards. In healthcare, AI technologies help analyze medical images and detect pathologies at an early stage.

Turkey adopted its first national AI strategy for 2020–2023 in 2019, Dursun Yıldırım Bayar, Head of the Smart Cities Department at the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, said. The strategy helped the country build up experience and improve coordination among municipalities. Three weeks ago, Turkey launched a new strategy running through 2030. Alongside specific objectives, the document also sets out the measures to be taken to achieve them.

“These could include specialized data platforms and tools to improve transport safety. There needs to be a platform that allows different systems to complement one another. This is known as an integrated digital twin platform,” Bayar explained.

Jumamudun Jumaliev, Director of the municipal enterprise Center for Digital Technologies at Bishkek City Hall in Kyrgyzstan, described how AI is being used in his country. Algorithms are applied to city management where they can help officials work more efficiently and make better decisions based on big data.

“First and foremost, this includes a system for processing residents’ requests. We respond to every comment on social media. Complaints go directly to the service responsible for addressing them. We would like to move toward a model in which the city analyzes itself: we identify systemic urban problems and want to take action before they escalate,” the expert said. He added that a similar approach is used to manage passenger flows: AI models help determine optimal public transportation routes.

Countries around the world have already gained a wide range of experience in implementing AI technologies. The next challenge for the international community is to make these tools easier for ordinary users to understand and more effective in practice.