City of Ottawa Deploys AI to Transform Hiring, Infrastructure Mapping, and Office Productivity

The City of Ottawa is rapidly expanding its use of artificial intelligence across municipal operations, with over 3,200 employees already using Microsoft Copilot and new projects underway for resume screening and infrastructure mapping. The initiative represents one of Canada's most ambitious municipal AI deployments, though officials emphasize the technology augments rather than replaces human workers.

During Tuesday's finance and corporate services committee meeting on the 2026 budget, city officials provided an update on AI implementation that revealed both the scope of current adoption and plans for expansion. The presentation comes as municipalities across Canada grapple with how to responsibly deploy AI while addressing concerns about privacy, bias, and job displacement.

Kyla Weir, an information technology program manager at the City of Ottawa, told councillors that 3,200 city employees currently have access to Microsoft's AI Copilot integrated into Outlook, Word, and Excel. These workers have collectively submitted over 114,000 prompts to the AI system, using it primarily to find information and draft communications.

"It helps people find information and draft communications, which may feel like an understatement, but if I reflect back on my career at the city, that is probably 95 percent of what I do," Weir explained during the committee presentation.

The scale of adoption places Ottawa among the leading Canadian municipalities in AI deployment, though still behind Ontario's provincial government, which reports over 15,000 civil servants using Copilot weekly with more than 120,000 pageviews on internal guidance pages—figures the province claims represent the highest Copilot adoption in Canada.

City Manager Wendy Stephanson emphasized that the AI implementation follows a clear philosophy. "We have enabled our people, and we are not replacing them," she stated, addressing concerns about AI-driven job losses that have dominated public discourse around workplace automation.

Beyond the existing Copilot deployment, Ottawa is developing two significant AI projects that could transform how the city operates.

The first involves using AI to screen resumes and applications for high-demand positions. As municipalities face challenges attracting and retaining talent in competitive labor markets, AI-powered resume screening promises to accelerate hiring processes while potentially reducing bias if implemented carefully. However, the technology has faced criticism elsewhere for perpetuating existing biases present in training data, making Ottawa's governance framework particularly important.

The second project focuses on infrastructure mapping and asset tracking. Ottawa operates a Google Maps-style vehicle called the GATsmobile equipped with roof-mounted cameras that drives around the city capturing footage of streets, signs, streetlights, and other municipal infrastructure. Currently, city staff must manually review this footage to identify and catalog assets—a time-consuming process.

The new AI system would automatically identify streetlights, signs, and other infrastructure in the footage, dramatically reducing manual review requirements. "The systems can identify streetlights and signs in the footage so a person doesn't have to go through that manually," Weir explained.

This application represents a practical use case where AI handles repetitive visual recognition tasks while freeing human workers to focus on analysis, decision-making, and problem-solving that requires judgment and expertise.

Recognizing the need for responsible AI deployment, Ottawa is developing a comprehensive governance framework scheduled for introduction in 2026. City Manager Wendy Stephanson indicated the framework will cover governance structures, privacy protections, and overall guidelines for responsible AI use across municipal operations.

The framework development reflects growing recognition among governments that AI deployment requires careful oversight. Ontario's provincial government implemented its Trustworthy AI Directive effective December 1, 2024, supported by policies, guidance, and an AI Expert Working Group that provides advice on responsible AI use in the public sector.

Ottawa's framework will need to address several critical concerns including data privacy and security for citizen information, algorithmic bias in systems affecting hiring and service delivery, transparency about when and how AI is used in decisions affecting residents, accountability mechanisms when AI systems make errors, and job impact considerations as automation expands.

The city's emphasis on augmenting rather than replacing workers suggests the framework will focus on AI as a productivity tool rather than a replacement for human judgment, particularly in areas affecting citizens' rights and access to services.

Ottawa's AI deployment occurs within a broader wave of public sector AI adoption across Canada. The federal government has issued policies enabling use of Microsoft Copilot for Work with specific security and privacy controls. Ontario's provincial government is pursuing a staged AI rollout with plans to achieve approximately 20 percent productivity improvements once purpose-built AI applications move beyond pilot phases.

However, public sector AI adoption faces unique challenges compared to private sector implementation. Government decisions often affect citizens' fundamental rights including access to services, employment opportunities, and legal protections. AI systems making or informing these decisions require higher standards of transparency, accountability, and fairness than commercial applications.

Privacy concerns are particularly acute. Municipal governments handle sensitive citizen data including property records, tax information, social service records, and law enforcement data. AI systems accessing this information must comply with strict privacy regulations while preventing unauthorized data exposure.

The restriction preventing most Canadian government employees from using consumer AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Google Gemini reflects these security concerns. By standardizing on enterprise-grade tools like Microsoft Copilot deployed within government IT infrastructure, public sector organizations maintain greater control over data security and compliance.

As Ottawa continues expanding AI across city operations, several questions will shape implementation success. Will the resume screening AI actually reduce hiring times while maintaining or improving candidate quality? Can infrastructure mapping AI accurately identify assets in varying weather and lighting conditions? How will the 2026 governance framework balance innovation with necessary oversight and accountability?

The city's approach of starting with lower-risk applications like document drafting and visual asset identification while developing governance frameworks represents prudent strategy. These use cases deliver productivity improvements without directly affecting citizens' rights or access to services, allowing the city to build experience and establish best practices before expanding into more sensitive areas.

Weir told councillors that AI implementation will continue expanding. "We are doing this everywhere and we have plans to keep the creativity, the innovation and the responsible implementation going," she said.

For Ottawa residents, the AI deployment should translate into faster service delivery, more efficient use of tax dollars, and potentially improved access to city services as employees gain time to focus on complex citizen needs rather than routine administrative tasks. However, the 2026 governance framework will be critical to ensuring these benefits materialize while protecting privacy and maintaining accountability in how the city serves its residents.