Kansas City is not chasing AI hype. Instead, Andrew Ngui, Chief Digital Officer of Kansas City, Missouri, United States, is focused on the essential work that makes artificial intelligence functional in local government: aligning data, processes, and people.

In this episode, we explore what lies beneath every successful AI implementation. Through Kansas City's work with the Bloomberg City Data Alliance and their 311 service redesign, Andrew reveals the real challenges facing city governments adopting AI. He challenges the sector's obsession with technological solutions and redirects attention to what truly matters: organisational change, staff readiness, and the psychological safety required for innovation to take root.

We also discuss the risks often left unspoken: the unintended consequences of automation, the value of thinking time embedded in routine work, and why human-to-human connection should never be outsourced to machines. Andrew shares practical tools developed through the Gov AI Coalition to help cities move beyond pilots, and why meaningful work built on autonomy, mastery, and purpose is the real driver of transformation.

A conversation about what it actually takes to implement AI responsibly in cities, and why the future belongs to those who think before they deploy.

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Chapters

• (00:00:00) - Intro
• (00:01:34) - Teaser question: what's the most very human problem in your city that you, you never dare hand to an AI machine or anything like that?
• (00:04:38) - Guest background
• (00:07:04) - Introducing Kansas City
• (00:09:19) - Improving 311 Services
• (00:15:51) - Risks of AI Implementation
• (00:18:53) - GovAI Coalition Tools
• (00:22:27) - Human Readiness for AI
• (00:25:54) - Removing Structural Barriers
• (00:28:48) - Effective Vendor Partnerships
• (00:33:27) - Unintended AI Consequences
• (00:37:55) - Segment: Hot Take of the Day
• (00:38:48) - Ending question: “To you, what is a Smart City?”