4 July 2024 | The 19th edition of The Apolitical View by Apolitical CEO and Co-Founder Robyn Scott. Subcribe to the newsletter

In this week's edition:

  • Paris sets an Olympic high bar
  • The future of political leadership looks exciting
  • “Watergate”: the Vermont edition

The Summer Olympics begin on 26 July in Paris. With several big elections underway, that may feel far away. But Paris has set a high bar for technological advancement at the Games, exciting for anyone interested in how governments can stretch and innovate under pressure.

For host governments, the Olympics are one of the ultimate tests of public services, from transport to healthcare to waste management. Paris has driven a digital and data first approach to the Games. There will be no shortage of ambitious ideas being tested out on citizens and visitors.

In an experiment every city government from Nairobi to Nanchang will be eagerly monitoring, AI will be trialled for city-wide traffic smoothing. Sensors will continuously monitor traffic flow and road conditions, and AI will then process the data to dynamically adjust traffic signals, optimise timing and divert vehicles, if necessary, in real-time. This could set a new standard for traffic choked cities everywhere, and underscores the potential of ‘smart’ digitally connected public infrastructure.

Public transportation is also using AI. Metro workers for Paris' public transport system have been given [3,000 artificial intelligence-supported translation devices](https://www.reuters.com/sports/lost-translation-not-paris-metro-during-summer-games-2024-01-30/?utm_campaign=The%20Apolitical%20View&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--fguFAmwy9NGFOn7vYkdQDRi0FLIZPGH15oyXi9SXg4qFKdhEjuu99zKpJefY4qFUUyuy5#:~:text=Not%20on%20Paris%20metro%20during%20Summer%20Games,-By%20Clotaire%20Achi&text=Paris'%20public%20transport%20system%20(RATP,network%20during%20this%20year's%20Olympics.) to help visitors navigate the trains during the Games. The handheld device can translate between French and 16 different languages, including Mandarin, Arabic and Korean, with the text appearing on a screen and being read aloud.

To help keep athletes focussed on their performance, Paris is testing an AI-powered system to monitor social media platforms in more than 35 languages to immediately block out any online abuse or threats aimed at athletes.

Although the French baulked at using facial recognition technology during the Olympics, Paris police will use CCTV algorithms to pick up anomalies such as fights, fast-moving crowds or unattended bags. This has drawn criticism and concern about what it may pave the way for, but it will also offer lessons and insights about the balance between public safety and rights, setting a crucial ethical precedent for future use of AI in public safety.

Paris will be using the influx of 15 million tourists as an opportunity to test experiments for climate action. A temporary installation of a 400m² floating solar farm on the River Seine will produce the equivalent energy for 30 two-bedroom apartments in the Olympic Village. The government intends to reuse the solar farm elsewhere after the Games. The city also committed to cleaning up the notoriously polluted Seine for use in all open-water swimming events and the Triathalon — the hope is that Parisians will be able to use the Seine to cool down in summer months going forward.

Ultimately, the Olympics will test what Paris’s public services can deliver. If its many experiments with a digital-first event pay off, city governments everywhere will have a brand new blueprint of ideas to adapt and test in their own context.

There are a lot of consequential elections underway. For some sorely needed encouragement about the future of political leadership, our sister organisation, the Apolitical Foundation, has just published its “78 Political Leadership Entrepreneurship Organisations to Watch” list. I was pleased to see that women are often leading these young and dynamic organisations. But most of those established within the past two years operate with only one part-time staff member and rely on volunteers.

Robyn Scott

Apolitical CEO & Co-Founder

In the diary

Tue 9 July

We’re co-hosting How to Use Technology to Transform Citizen Engagement with the Apolitical Foundation.

Recommendations

On the subject of the Games, a fake “documentary” about the Paris Olympics, supposedly narrated by Tom Cruise and disparaging the event, serves as a reminder of the constant risk of misinformation. If you’re interested in how to negotiate this tricky terrain during 2024’s election omnibus, explore our new community of practice on Misinformation and Disinformation.

And finally...

A Vermont lawmaker has apologised for repeatedly pouring water into her legislative colleague's work bag over a five month period, after she was caught in the act on video. Both lawmakers were born and raised in the small town of Bennington in Vermont, where they attended the same high school and their parents went to the same church. She said she doesn’t know why she did it.

Got thoughts, feedback or ideas for what you'd like to see in this newsletter? Send them directly to me or leave a comment below.

Make sure to share your own thoughts with the author by leaving a comment below