Prince Albert is taking a closer look at how artificial intelligence could be used in municipal government after councillors heard a proposal Monday aimed at connecting information across City departments and finding potential savings and funding opportunities.
Kevin B. Lall, founder of InSight-OS, presented his Municipal Intelligence Initiative to Executive Committee. He said the idea is not to replace municipal staff, but to use AI alongside existing expertise to identify information and opportunities that may be missed when departments operate separately.
Lall said he has been examining municipalities across North America using publicly available municipal, provincial, state and federal information along with multiple AI platforms.
“Could valuable information already exist but remain disconnected?” Lall said. “Financial statements, budgets, infrastructure plans, land information, procurement, demographics and council decisions each serve different purposes.”
He said connecting those sources could reveal what his report calls “recoverable resources,” including outside funding opportunities, underused capacity, duplicated work and other efficiencies.
The report estimates more than $9 million annually in potential recoverable value. However, the document describes that figure as a directional estimate, not a forecast, and says the numbers would need to be reviewed by City financial, administrative, operational and legal staff before being relied on.
Mayor Bill Powalinsky questioned Lall about what results he has already produced and whether there were completed projects council could use to judge the proposal.
Lall pointed to a pilot project he said is underway in Shelburne, Ont., involving three agencies with combined budgets of about $3.8 million. He said the work has identified the potential for between $300,000 and $400,000 in annual savings through better coordination.
That project is expected to conclude at the end of December.
Powalinsky also questioned how Lall had been hired in Shelburne and whether there had been a competitive process.
Lall said he had a professional relationship with the municipality’s deputy mayor and was engaged directly. Powalinsky said Prince Albert would have to follow its procurement procedures if the City decided to pursue the work.
Coun. Tony Head said he was interested in the potential funding opportunities identified through the system, but acknowledged concerns about the technology.
“I am a little nervous about the AI component of it,” Head said.
Head later said one of his concerns was whether information produced by AI would be accurate.
Coun. Bryce Laewetz said he already uses AI regularly and has found it saves him time, but questioned how much control users would have over AI assistants and the system’s governing instructions.
Lall said his system uses a lengthy “governance master prompt” to establish parameters for how AI should operate. He also said InSight-OS can draw from more than 20 AI platforms rather than relying on a single system.
Laewetz asked whether people with access to the system could change those governing prompts. Lall said they could.
“That’s my concern, is that everyone gets access to this program, and then someone can go in and adjust the prompts, and this thing goes wild or whatever,” Laewetz said.
He added that he was pleased the discussion was happening and would like to see it move forward.
The discussion comes as questions about the risks of increasingly capable AI systems are growing beyond municipal government. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently warned that AI is making cyberattacks easier to carry out and identified hospitals, financial institutions, water systems, power grids and government benefit systems among infrastructure that could become vulnerable. Gates said the technology was crossing danger thresholds that the industry had previously identified as reasons for caution.
Those risks are no longer entirely theoretical. Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said in August that overseas hackers used AI agents during July attacks against government agencies. The ministry said the technology allowed attackers to combine different attack methods quickly and use secondary systems as entry points, making attacks faster, cheaper and easier to scale.
However, AI has also shown measurable benefits in government when used for specific tasks. Service Canada has reported using AI to help process large numbers of comments attached to Records of Employment, reducing thousands of manual work items each month while maintaining a reported accuracy rate of 99.9 per cent and producing annual savings. The federal Translation Bureau has also used AI-assisted translation to handle large volumes of material while keeping professional translators involved in reviewing the work.
AI infrastructure is also attracting scrutiny closer to home. A proposed 300-megawatt Bell AI data centre in the RM of Sherwood has prompted questions about water use, noise and environmental impacts. Saskatchewan released a provincial data-centre framework Aug. 27, with the province emphasizing issues including Canadian ownership and data sovereignty.
The technology is also being viewed as an economic opportunity. During an Aug. 26 press conference in Prince Albert, Premier Scott Moe pointed to Bell Canada’s data centre development outside Regina, saying thousands of people were working on its construction and more than 800 long-term jobs were expected in areas including security, logistics, maintenance and hospitality. Moe said the investment would be “good for our province,” creating jobs and providing greater economic security for Saskatchewan families. He also said the province was developing guidelines for future data-centre projects, with Canadian ownership among the government’s priorities.
A separate item on Monday’s agenda showed those questions are also being discussed more broadly by Saskatchewan municipalities. A SUMA Cities Caucus update said artificial intelligence and data-centre development had emerged as significant topics, including concerns about consultation around data centres and the need for greater understanding of AI policy and governance. The caucus also discussed looking at approaches used by other municipal organizations for possible best practices.
The public report also includes longer-term ideas beyond the immediate municipal AI proposal. One ranks a possible AI and data infrastructure campus as the second-highest future investment opportunity identified by the analysis. The report suggests Prince Albert could potentially support a facility beginning at five to 10 megawatts and growing larger over time.
The document makes clear that the idea is a long-range possibility only and is not a recommendation, funded project or council decision.
The discussion Monday did not result in approval of an AI program, pilot project or spending commitment.
Coun. Dawn Kilmer moved that the correspondence be received and referred to Corporate Services for further review.
Lall also told council that when he updated his workshop system, he deliberately incorporated Indigenous content. His Municipal Intelligence Initiative says its methodology operates within the parameters of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Treaty 6.
Head also noted that the Corporate Services seat was empty during the discussion. He said the City’s previous review of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action should be shared with Lall as the proposal moves to the department.
City Manager Craig Guidinger said Truth and Reconciliation is a corporate responsibility and is incorporated into the City’s strategic planning, consulting work and internal decision-making.
Executive Committee approved Kilmer’s motion.
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
