After serving as Colorado’s state CIO for five years and spending four and a half in various industry roles, Nallapati returned to public service in September 2023 as Denver’s CIO. As of October 2025, she is also the consolidated city and county’s inaugural CAIO — chief AI and information officer — with a focus on using AI responsibly and in the service of citizens. She said concerns about equity and human-centered design are paramount right now, first because of the technology’s reach and rate of improvement, and second because if people in positions like hers aren’t ensuring that it’s being rolled out safely, who will?
“AI is being done to us by these large corporations and technologies, and happening so fast. It’s being integrated into every part of our lives, and how do we ensure there is enough equity built in, enough guardrails built in, enough regulation and compliance so that our data is not being used in ways that we don’t want it to be used?” she said. “It’s almost a sacred duty to ensure that it’s done right.”
As one example of doing it right, Nallapati pointed to the launch of an AI chatbot fielding 311 calls for the city, freeing up staff for other tasks in the wake of budget cuts.
