GZM and Łukasiewicz-AI Institute Sign Letter of Intent on AI in Public Administration

On July 22, the Upper Silesian-Zagłębie Metropolis (Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia, GZM) signed a letter of intent with the Łukasiewicz Research Network's Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity. The document opens the way for joint deployment of AI solutions in public offices and the creation of unified IT security standards across the 41 cities and municipalities that make up the metropolis.

The signing coincided with the CYBERSEC EXPO & FORUM conference in Katowice, where metropolis representatives spoke openly about their ambition to set standards rather than merely catch up with other regions. GZM has existed for barely a decade, but is increasingly positioning itself as a technology competence hub for smaller local governments that lack the resources to build their own IT teams.

Four areas of cooperation

The letter of intent spells out what the cooperation will involve. The first area is automation of administrative processes, meaning AI-based mechanisms meant to streamline the work of municipal and city offices. The second is strengthening digital resilience, understood as shared IT security systems protecting residents' data regardless of a given municipality's size.

The third area involves upskilling officials through training and workshops on new technologies, while the fourth is developing recommendations for the safe and ethical deployment of artificial intelligence in the public sector. The Łukasiewicz-AI Institute is to supply expert knowledge, while the metropolis provides deployment infrastructure and scale, more than 40 local government units.

Transport as testing ground

In statements from GZM representatives, public transport is cited as the main testing ground for new solutions. Systems handling public transit, passenger information and ticket settlement require digital stability while also generating huge volumes of data that can be used to train and test AI mechanisms responding to residents' needs.

This approach builds on the earlier Algorytm GZM report, a document outlining the metropolis's potential, competencies and development directions in artificial intelligence. The metropolis wants the standards developed there to become a reference point not only for its own municipalities but for other regions of the country.

We want to create shared standards and integrated IT security systems that will protect the data of every resident of the Metropolis - Leszek Pietraszek, chairman of the GZM board

Artificial intelligence should serve residents and help local governments carry out their tasks - Prof. Jan Kozak, director of the Łukasiewicz Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity

The institute's background

The Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity was formed from the transformation of the Łukasiewicz - EMAG Institute in Katowice, which previously focused mainly on innovative techniques for mining and industry. The institution reports more than 120 experts across three research centers and over 50 ongoing research and development projects, covering areas including digital twins, explainable artificial intelligence, IoT device security, bioinformatics and autonomous drones.

For local governments that rarely have their own analytics teams or cybersecurity departments on the scale of large cities, such a partner means access to expertise without having to build it from scratch. This model could prove especially significant for smaller municipalities within the 41-member metropolis, where the risk of cyberattacks on municipal infrastructure grows alongside the ongoing digitization of public services.

The letter of intent is not itself an implementation agreement and does not yet include a specific budget or timeline for individual projects. It is a declarative document that opens a formal path toward further, more detailed agreements to be worked out in the coming months.

What comes next

Under Poland's updated national Policy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence through 2030, GZM is meant to join the ranks of the country's AI development leaders starting in 2027. Signing the letter of intent with the research institute is the first formal step toward that goal, though its real impact on the daily work of public offices and the level of protection of residents' data will only become clear once concrete pilot projects are launched.