How AI Is Transforming Our Cities
1A
NPR
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As tech changes our communities, it’s often mayors who are leading the way. More than 500 of them are meeting in Madrid to share their best ideas as part of this year’s Bloomberg CityLab, a global cities summit from Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the Aspen Institute … and 1A is there.
The mayors of San Antonio, Texas, Nairobi, Kenya and Bogotá, Colombia join us for a discussion about how local leaders are using artificial intelligence to aid them in running their cities — and how they are balancing residents’ concerns about privacy, the environmental impact, and what an increased use of AI could mean for the job market.
They’re among 10 founding mayors of the Mayors AI Forum launched Tuesday in Madrid by Bloomberg Philanthropies and Johns Hopkins University.
“Mayors have often been early leaders on global challenges – even as national and international responses lagged,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg L.P., and three-term mayor of New York City. “Now, the Mayors AI Forum will help put them – and the communities they serve – at the forefront of conversations about the future of AI.”
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is 1A. I'm Jen White. We're live from Madrid, Spain for this year's Bloomberg |
| 0:12.9 | City Lab conference. It's a global summit of city officials and mayors meeting to share |
| 0:17.8 | ideas about everything from abortability and sustainability to education |
| 0:21.9 | and housing. A major theme in this year's global exchange of ideas, artificial intelligence. |
| 0:28.3 | Here's London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, speaking Tuesday morning in Madrid at the launch of the |
| 0:33.2 | mayor's AI Forum, established by Bloomberg Philanthropies with Johns Hopkins University. |
| 0:38.5 | I think if we're not careful, big tech can go the way of big tobacco in terms of the |
| 0:45.3 | mistakes made by big tobacco, knowing the perils of big tobacco. Nicotine is addictive, |
| 0:51.0 | tobacco is damaging to health. They knew this and kept it secret, and didn't share that with anybody. |
| 0:56.2 | I think we know now from not just the court cases in America, |
| 0:59.3 | but we know the dangers of infinite scrolling. |
| 1:02.2 | We know the dangers in relation to online abuse, |
| 1:04.6 | disinformation, the impact on democracy. |
| 1:07.7 | Women can be undressed using AI and sexualized very easily. Young children have |
| 1:12.6 | real challenges with this, but there's an opportunity in terms of potential of AI with the right |
| 1:16.7 | guide rails and the right safeguards in place. I think the potential is huge. So how are mayors using |
| 1:23.6 | artificial intelligence to aid them in running their cities, and how are they balancing |
| 1:27.7 | residents' concerns about privacy, the environmental impact, and what an increased use of |
| 1:32.6 | AI could mean for the job market. I'm Jen White. You're listening to the 1A podcast. We'll be back |
| 1:38.1 | with more after this short break. Stay with us. Welcome back to the 1A podcast. We're live from Madrid, Spain for this year's Bloomberg |
| 1:49.8 | City Lab conference. Let's get into our conversation and meet our guests. Joining us here in our |
| 1:54.6 | Madrid studio, the Democratic Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones. Mayor Jones, welcome to the program. Hi, great to be here. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.