The Municipality of Bologna takes a decisive step in its digital transformation journey, officially integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into its administrative processes. After approximately 10 months of work within the #BolonAI – Urban Intelligence strategy, the structured path for the adoption of AI, the institution enables the use of advanced technologies to support the drafting of documents and the synthesis of complex documents.
A structured path: the Innovation Construction Sites
The project is not limited to software adoption, but is based on a solid governance and change management architecture. In particular:
- Cantiere 1 (Governance & Risk): a responsible management model has been defined (approved by the Council in December 2025), with guidelines and a risk assessment system being defined, in line with the European AI Act.
- Construction site 2 (Exploration, Prioritization & Roadmap): the real needs of the institution were mapped. Through over 50 hours of interviews involving almost 115 people, between the municipality and metropolitan city, 279 potential use cases were identified that would benefit from the application of AI. Among these, some with high impact will be identified, starting from those with low risk, high scalability and which allow us to improve relations with citizens.
- Cantiere 3 (Change Management): is accompanying the organization through a step-by-step literacy plan (AI Literacy) aimed at all staff and specific training, initially for the management team, managers and administrative staff, on the use of Google Workspace tools, such as Gemini and NotebookLM.
AI at the service of efficiency and clarity
The introduction of Generative AI, in this phase, is aimed at optimizing the preliminary investigation activities for the drafting of resolutions and determinations, while ensuring a simpler, clearer and more accessible language. Thanks to the use of specialized “agents” and techniques augmentationmanagers and administrative staff can count on qualified support for verifying the completeness of documents, reviewing gender language and accessibility of contents.
The primacy of transparency: the commitment of the Municipality
In line with the principles of ethics and responsibility, the Municipality of Bologna undertakes a commitment to maximum transparency. Following the official adoption of these tools, specific wording acknowledging this will be inserted in each administrative act (resolution or determination) drawn up with the support of AI. Citizens and all stakeholders will thus be able to know the technological contribution used, without prejudice to the fact that the final responsibility for the content and the legal validation will remain, at every stage, with the managers and officials responsible (so-called approach human-in-the-loop).
“Artificial intelligence does not replace human intelligence, but enhances its analytical capabilities to serve the common good”underlines the General Director of the Municipality Valerio Montalto -. “Bologna confirms itself as the heart of the Data Valley, combining cutting-edge technology with the fundamental values of correctness and administrative transparency”.
