As artificial intelligence becomes part of business and government across the city, Josh Gellers argues that Jacksonville’s next AI conversation shouldn’t only be about what the technology can do—but how we decide where and how it should be used.
AI isn’t coming to Jacksonville. It’s already here.
Local companies are building with it. Organizations are figuring out how to use it. City government has experimented with it. And conversations about where AI should—and shouldn’t—be deployed are already happening.
The bigger question now is whether the systems for governing it are developing as quickly as the technology itself.
As I like to put it: the train has already left the station, but we’re still building the tracks.
Jacksonville Is No Longer Waiting for AI
In 2025, the Brookings Institution described Jacksonville as a “nascent adopter” of AI—a category of metro areas showing moderate performance across AI talent, innovation and adoption. Brookings specifically recommended that metros in this category promote broad AI literacy, demonstrate practical applications and think about AI career pathways.
But even that label doesn’t fully capture what is already happening here. Jacksonville is home to AI-first companies, has experimented with AI in city management, and is confronting questions about where emerging technologies should be deployed.
At the same time, the public is developing stronger opinions about the technology surrounding them.
A July 2026 poll from UNF’s Public Opinion Research Lab found mixed views among Florida voters on AI, including significant opposition to data centers. More recently, the Florida Department of Transportation ordered automated license plate readers, including Flock cameras, removed from state highway rights-of-way, citing reports of misuse, privacy concerns and surveillance.
These debates point to something bigger than enthusiasm—or skepticism—about AI itself.
People are asking what AI could mean for jobs and the environment. They are questioning privacy, trust and accountability. And increasingly, they want to understand who gets a say in deciding when and where these technologies become woven into our work and daily lives.
Public acceptance cannot be treated as an afterthought.
The Time to Build the Guardrails
While the best time to regulate AI was yesterday, the next best time is right now.
Fortunately, Jacksonville doesn’t have to invent AI governance from scratch. Cities and counties around the country are already experimenting with different ways to deploy AI responsibly, create accountability and build public trust.
While no major US metros have adopted an AI bill of rights, the Governor’s Office championed this legislative initiative and the Florida legislature has passed nation-leading AI regulations related to the rights of children, citizens, and consumers.
Other local governments have taken different approaches—from increasing transparency around AI tools to creating dedicated leadership roles and investing in employee education.
Austin, Texas, formed an AI Advisory Committee with broad representation from community, technology, and academic organizations.
Miami-Dade County enacted a responsible AI use policy for its employees.
Metro Nashville maintains a public listing of all AI tools used across departments.
Fort Lauderdale has chosen to implement citywide AI training.
Louisville hired a Chief AI Officer to coordinate AI efforts across municipal departments.
The lesson isn’t that Jacksonville should copy any one of them.
It’s that there is no one-size-fits-all model.
There are different combinations of policies, processes and parties that can be held accountable for how AI is used. Jacksonville has an opportunity to decide what combination makes sense here.
AI Governance Isn’t Just a Government Conversation
Given Jacksonville’s size and growing reputation as a technology and innovation hub, a local approach to AI governance should involve more than new rules or another committee.
It should involve people across the public and private sectors.
Governance can sound like something that belongs inside City Hall. But as AI becomes part of everyday business operations, companies will face many of the same fundamental questions.
Where should AI be used? Where shouldn’t it? What does responsible use look like? What risks need to be considered? Who is accountable when an AI-supported decision goes wrong? And who inside the organization is prepared to make those decisions?
That’s why simply understanding AI is no longer enough. Organizations need to train for it.
And that training cannot stop with the IT team, a few early adopters or the people making decisions at the top. It needs to reach everyone in the organization, with the depth and focus appropriate to their role—from employees using AI in their daily work to managers overseeing its use and C-suite executives making decisions about where AI fits into the organization’s future.
That means training across the full spectrum: responsible AI use, AI literacy, risk and governance, AI strategy and AI leadership.
Because adopting AI without preparing the people expected to use, manage and lead it creates a gap of its own.
For Jacksonville, building that capability across organizations means developing a deeper bench of people who can use AI responsibly, make informed decisions about it and ultimately govern it—talent that our businesses, growing AI industry and government agencies will increasingly need.
If Jacksonville wants to grow as an AI and innovation hub, attracting the technology is only part of the equation. We also have to train the people who will be responsible for what we do with it.
Jacksonville Has a Chance to Build Its Own Model
National conversations about AI can easily become consumed by speculation about what the technology might someday do.
Jacksonville has something much more immediate to think about:
What do we want AI to do here—and what rules, people and institutions do we need around it?
That conversation shouldn’t belong exclusively to technologists or government officials. Business leaders, educators, researchers, community organizations and residents all have a stake in what responsible AI adoption looks like in Duval.
The goal doesn’t have to be slowing innovation. Nor does it have to be adopting every new technology simply because it exists.
The opportunity is to develop a Duval-specific approach to AI governance that allows Jacksonville to capture the benefits of AI while creating the transparency, accountability and public participation necessary to use it responsibly, fairly and democratically.
The technology is already moving.
Now Jacksonville has to decide what kind of tracks we want to build.
