Building a People-First, AI-Powered City: What 215 Municipalities Reveal About AI and Public Value
Dell, Monday, November 2nd, 2026
A Dell and NVIDIA-sponsored ThoughtLab study of 215 cities finds average AI maturity of 50 out of 100 and higher ROI for leader cities.
A ThoughtLab benchmarking study sponsored by Dell Technologies and NVIDIA surveyed 525 officials across 215 municipalities and found cities average 50 out of 100 on AI maturity, with most stuck between pilots and scaled use.
The 18% of cities rated Leaders report an average 99% ROI on AI recouped in 38 months, versus 42% over 49 months for others, which the study attributes to discipline and sequencing rather than budget.
Common barriers are unexpected costs, siloed data, AI skills shortages and public trust, cited by 69% of cities.
Examples include Honolulu cutting building review cycles by 58% with AI plan review and Kigali reducing commute times by up to 30% with AI traffic management.