How European cities are making AI work for people 05 June 2026 by Eurocities Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming part of everyday urban life. It is changing how residents access services, how children learn, how civil servants work and how cities respond to complex challenges, from mobility and climate adaptation to social inclusion and public safety. For local governments, the question is no longer whether AI will be used, but how it can be used responsibly, inclusively and in ways that improve people’s lives. Across Europe, cities are moving from experimentation to implementation. They are testing AI assistants, building data platforms, developing ethical frameworks, training public servants and exploring how AI can strengthen public services. But their experience points to a clear lesson: technology alone is not enough. AI can only support better services if it is built on trust, good data, strong governance, public-sector capacity and a clear understanding of residents’ needs. From tools to public value In the city of Espoo, AI is being tested as a way to improve internal services and support municipal staff. The city is piloting an intranet AI assistant to help its 12,000 employees find internal information more quickly, combining GPT-based solutions and Microsoft Copilot to improve the efficiency and usability of internal information. For Espoo, the key lesson is that AI must be tested carefully before being scaled. “Data quality and structure matter and experts and end users must be involved early,” states Anni Orttenvuori-Ganter, Lead Data and Knowledge Architect at the City of Espoo. The city is also exploring emerging technologies in education and recruitment, including Minecraft-based sustainability learning and virtual reality for staff orientation. But for Orttenvuori-Ganter, the purpose matters more than the tool. “What’s important here is not the technology itself, but how it is used and for