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ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The City of Alexandria has partnered with InnovateUS to provide free artificial intelligence training to all of its roughly 2,000 employees, part of what officials describe as a broader commitment to responsible AI use in local government.
The initiative is meant to ensure the city's workforce is equipped to serve residents effectively and responsibly in an increasingly digital world, the city said. All training is free for employees and designed specifically for the public sector.
"AI technology is here to stay, and our staff deserves to be equipped to use it well. It won't replace the people doing this work, but it can help them do it better, make smarter use of public resources, and use data more efficiently," said Vanetta Pledger, acting deputy city manager. "What excites me most is how AI helps us see the connections across City government so we can build a workforce that's more efficient, more equitable, and better prepared to serve our community."
InnovateUS is a no-cost learning initiative that helps public-sector professionals build practical skills in AI, data, digital service delivery and innovation. The platform has trained more than 200,000 public-sector learners across all 50 states and 80 countries.
City officials said the partnership is part of an effort to ensure that as AI tools become more common, employees understand not only what the technologies can do but how to use them ethically and securely in the public's interest.
The training builds on several AI efforts the city has already undertaken. Through the SmartScan: SMART Roadway Management Initiative, a partnership with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute funded by a U.S. Department of Transportation grant, Alexandria has mounted cameras and sensors on a city vehicle to automatically detect and assess roadway conditions such as pavement, signage and markings. The pilot, which began collecting data in March, is designed to support proactive, data-driven maintenance while blurring personal identifying information to protect privacy.
The city has also used an integration platform called Peregrine to reconcile decades of justice-system data that had become fragmented across multiple modern tools after the city retired its longtime legacy system. The platform cleans and deduplicates records to build a single, accurate view of individuals and cases, which the city says helps personnel connect cases and uncover patterns.
Alexandria also participated in the first cohort of the AI Learning and Innovation Hub, a sandbox program run by the nonprofit Social Finance that lets governments experiment with AI before entering procurement contracts. The city focused its work on the Department of Code Administration, exploring how AI could help staff process building code reviews more efficiently. Pledger has said the goal was to complement employees' work rather than replace it.
The city maintains acceptable-use policies and AI security training through its Department of Information Technology Services.
