Mesa city officials unveiled the initiative earlier this month, which can be taken online or in person by anyone with a library card. The training is “foundational” for other AI applications the city is looking to explore, according to Ian Linssen, assistant to the city manager. Linssen helps oversee technology innovation initiatives in the city.
Mesa officials were eager to explore AI-powered possibilities for local government, but their levels of AI literacy varied, he said. Several Mesa employees participate in the GovAI Coalition, led by the city of San Jose, Calif.
That Silicon Valley city launched its own AI education initiatives in 2025 for city employees and residents, which provided inspiration for that of Mesa. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said he hoped the city’s skills training would become “a model that other cities and jurisdictions can use.”
Leaders in Mesa were already planning on training employees on core AI skills as “grassroots demand” for AI education grew; they ultimately offered it to the public as well, through a LinkedIn Learning software subscription. Paired with outreach, officials saw potential benefits in leveling the AI understanding across the city.
With the direction AI is going, Linssen said, city officials realized the technology can “elevate the services that we offer to our community,” and can do so at “a different level than other prior technologies that have come before.”
Participants can take courses ranging from basic awareness about AI and prompt creation to learning to build unique applications. Although Mesans can start exploring the classes right now, over the coming months Linssen said officials will work to curate course packages that may be especially helpful based on current AI literacy levels.
For employees, participation will look a little different, as Mesa will be connecting these training modules to the city’s internal employee training platform with which they are already familiar. The AI education initiative is currently optional but encouraged; officials may decide to require certain training elements as the AI landscape evolves. Although information on courses members of the public take is anonymous, that of employees will provide city leadership “more granularity” on usage data Linssen said, and inform future training.
City employees are encouraged to use AI to support their work, while adhering to city policies.
“We’re going as fast we can on that — safely, within these guidelines — and then just watching where this is all going to see what’s coming next,” Linssen said.
The city is actively using chatbots and has long been using software tools with AI built in, he said, but is exploring further AI applications, like how AI could support permit review or automate service requests. One of the best ways to understand AI’s potential benefits and use cases is to test out the available tools, he said; education is “fundamentally how we get started on those things.”
“It’s foundational,” Linssen said. “I think just getting an understanding and awareness of what’s possible — how to interact with it — is critical to us being able to implement it widely across the organization at the right time.”
Mesa and San Jose are not the only cities investing in AI education for their communities. Long Beach, Calif., led a series of workshops in 2025 educating the public on how to use AI — and how city government is using it.
“If [other cities] want to earn more trust, digital inclusion — educational empowerment — opportunities are critical for earning trust in my opinion,” Long Beach Technology and Innovation Department Data Privacy Analyst Omar Moncayo said at the time. Another city official said the workshop series revealed a demand for city-led AI training.
Elsewhere, Washington, D.C., announced earlier this month that all government employees and contractors would be required to complete AI training. And last February, Indianapolis, Ind., started offering AI training focused on ethical use.
While the content of these trainings varies by jurisdiction, some experts have indicated that the need to improve prompt engineering skills and data literacy can support government innovation with AI.
