CAIO Weeknote #18

Progress, partnerships, and the admin keeping the wheels turning

Monday

Team Meeting Priorities: set up and priorities for the week.

Weekly Meeting with Head of Digital Services: It was great to have a smart peer to throw around alternatives to commissioning, growing our own digital innovation and solutions and sharing different operating models.

Collaboration and understanding with key peers: Inspiring chat with the Chief Exec of the Digital Isle of Man Exec Agency, who is setting up their National AI Office, among other things. Great to share challenges, structure, approaches and our work programmes and looking forward to meeting more of the IoM team in Liverpool next week. Great to connect Team IoM with the great work of the Virtual Engineering Centre (VEC) at the University of Liverpool for AI prototyping.

Tuesday

AI Task Force Submission Review: On Monday, with a week to go before AI Task Force Expressions of Interest [closes today! Sat 31st of January] I reviewed with Kayla on looking at if there were aspects of our portfolio light in submissions that we should encourage more people to apply, or gaps where we considered that we may benefit from applications. Not the case. Great talent and tricky decisions ahead so far!

Wednesday

Day off with Uni visits for my daughter.

Thursday

AI in Transport: Discovery meeting with one of the Local Authority teams to introduce the Proof of Concept work we are undertaking with AI in our Control Rooms.

AI in Education: Henry, our new Project Manager, is deftly managing our AI in Education work. Helping support him and address any questions from current contracts, mayoral office external communications, our comms team communications, strategy and stakeholders is key to helping him fly in this new role. We are all delighted to welcome him to the team.

Friday

AI in Health and Social Care: Blown away by the work undertaken by the Civic HealthTech Innovation Zone (CHI-Zone) initiative at the University of Liverpool. Innovation leaders in the Combined Authority met with Annemarie, leading this important work to better understand the scope and how we may be able to support it.

Modelling and Engagement: Following an interesting presentation by Newham Council last week on the Data and AI strategic approach and programme, I followed up with a visit to the University of East London to better understand the work of the Office for Public Sector AI: a joint venture between Newham Council and the University of East London to develop AI solutions for public benefit.

In addition

There is an abundance of absolutely necessary work to do to keep the AI Programme moving, and responsibilities of my role that don’t always make my Weeknotes.
It’s important in transparency and to paint the whole picture of the work to occasionally share what else needs to happen to keep moving forward, which is not as exciting as talks and visits to key stakeholders, but entirely necessary.

Here is the administration of what also needs to happen, mostly each week:

• Team briefing, interaction and steering

• Investigating internal administrative support for our team

• Devising the new roles our team needs, job descriptions, requests to fill, chasing, reviewing applicants, and interview logistics

• Other internal team requests

• Briefing origination or contribution

• Performance reporting

• Presenting the work of the AI Programme to internal teams and the Cabinet

• Speaking, invite consideration, selection, response, logistics

• Devising the presentations

• Response to local businesses showcasing their AI work

• Liaising with internal teams to understand their work

• Visiting regional key stakeholders

• Budgeting, financial liaison

• Conference attendance, business cases, logistics

• Weekly logistics of London to Liverpool, which changes with speaking, meeting and event attendance.

This is on top of the work I have been brought in to deliver change, The AI Programme:

• The AI Summit

• Recruiting for the AI Task Force

• AI in Transport

• AI in Education

• AI in Health and Social Care

• Building internal AI capability

• Building external AI capability

• Modelling how best to deliver this work with a small team.

Note to Self: Fighting the rising tide of my inbox is something I need to learn how to better navigate. Any advice welcome.

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Events that I’m speaking at - coming up

6th Feb: Role of the CAIO, ACC Liverpool Festival of Data, University of Liverpool

25 Feb: The CAIO Blueprint, CAIO Summit London

26 Apr: The CAIO Blueprint: Embedding AI in Regions Local Government Partnership Network North 2026

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Tiffany St James
Chief AI Officer, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority