Palm Desert Looks To Adopt New AI Policy

PALM DESERT, CA — The Palm Desert City Council is slated this week to consider a comprehensive new artificial intelligence policy that, if enacted, establishes a formal framework for how municipal staff and officials use AI tools.

The proposed policy replaces interim guidance that focused primarily on generative AI during early experimentation. Since creating a dedicated Artificial Intelligence Officer position in March 2026, city officials have drafted a broader framework centered on human accountability, transparent public interactions, and a risk-based approval process.

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Under the policy, AI applications are categorized into three distinct risk tiers:

• Low Risk: Routine assistance tasks such as drafting, research, summarization, or read-only integrations where a human reviews all outputs before the city relies on them. These require no additional approvals within established boundaries.
• Moderate Risk: Uses involving sensitive or restricted city information, automated direct communication with the public, or write-access integrations that allow users to modify or add data in systems. These require approval from a department director.
• High Risk: Uses that materially influence decisions affecting an individual's rights, benefits, or employment, or that carry autonomous legal and financial commitments. These require both department director approval and written authorization from the city manager.

The framework also outlines core transparency commitments, including maintaining a public inventory of approved AI tools, requiring AI to explicitly identify itself when communicating directly with the public, and providing avenues for human review or correction when automated systems influence decisions affecting residents.

City Council will take up the issue during its 4 p.m., Oct. 8 regular meeting at City Hall, 73-510 Fred Waring Drive. If approved, the policy will take effect immediately.

See the full Oct. 8 Palm Desert City Council meeting agenda here.