#342 AI for Cities: Reinventing Public Communication and Resident Engagement

Cities are drowning in fragmented communication channels—social media, websites, emails, and scattered PDFs—making it nearly impossible for residents to find reliable, up-to-date civic information. Casey Elliott, CEO of PennyApp, presents a radical solution: a centralized, AI-powered civic knowledge platform that treats city policy as the single source of truth. Instead of slapping chatbots on outdated websites, PennyApp uses agentic AI to ingest official ordinances, regulations, and codes, then dynamically answer resident questions in real time—whether about chicken limits, building permits, or emergency alerts. The result? A single, intelligent hub where residents can ask natural language questions and get accurate, sourced answers—no more hunting through 14 website tabs. What’s more, the AI automatically generates multilingual, multimodal content (charts, poetry, voice) and even helps city staff draft better communications by suggesting impactful updates based on meeting transcripts. The real breakthrough? It flips the script: cities stop chasing residents across platforms and instead create a one-stop, opt-in experience—like garbage collection, where service only happens if you participate. The outcome? Higher engagement, lower costs, and smarter civic communication. This isn’t just a tool—it’s a paradigm shift.