CAIO Weeknote #34

Task forces, Test beds, and the people who make it all possible.

Monday

Team Meeting kicks off the week's planning, growing our team and having a better sense of progress now.

Most of the day focussing on our AI Summit. Teaser trailer alert: announcement on this next week.

We’re exploring how visual language models, chatting with unstructured video data, can help benefit our region, but the tech, compliance, legal, connectivity, compute power and operations need careful management; we’re progressing this weekly.

Our monthly AI Working Group meeting with colleagues from Digital Services and our Office for Public Sector Innovation helps us plan more collaboratively.

Tuesday

I’m glad I got up at 5am and was packed and ready for 6am as I might not have caught that there was a tube strike, and I had to change my route to Euston and run out the door. Luckily, I can catch two trains to St Pancras and jog up the road to Euston. Made it. Phew.

Planning for our AI Task Force. We’re putting together a brilliant group of people to help collaborate on our AI agenda and planning the remit, comms, light contracting and how they will work with us takes a little sequencing.

Brilliant 121 with Camilla, our Director of Strategic Communications and Corporate Affairs, for her sound advice on some of the AI Programme Agenda and our connection and liaison with other governments through some of the speaking opportunities I’m invited to. We’re lucky to have her in our region.

Comms and Stakeholder planning with Kayla for our projects.

Monthly Check-In with Kayla on her development.

Having my first free sunny evening (life after my MSc) I decided to explore Liverpool waterfront. Checked in, changed and headed North towards Hill Dickinson Stadium for light exercise and a proper look. The Royal Liverbird Building looks spectacular in the early evening sunlight, and I was delighted to trip across Wyld Sauna - the UK’s only floating sauna.

Wednesday

When I’m onsite I try to ensure that I’m meeting key regional stakeholders and share and learn and today was jam-packed full of goodness:

Serial entrepreneur, Jon Corner. After every conversation, another layer of his expertise is revealed. I knew his Smart City credentials, having been the CDO setting up Salford Media City, but a great background in education too, that cuts across our programmes - a fruitful conversation.

Waiting for me in our coffee shop after Jon were Richard Harding and Paul Steward, sharing the good work at STFC Hartree, and with them our plans to help and support. Always a buoyant and useful swapping of agendas.

Quick march to the Cunard building to meet with Claire McColgan CBE, Director of Culture & Major Events at Liverpool City Council and Associate Director, Liverpool City Region and Jane Morgan at Liverpool City Region Destination Partnership. Understanding the cultural strategy of Liverpool and the wealth of global live events coming to the region was super useful for how we look at how AI can enable information, people flow, transport and digital engagement.

Our first Team Lunch as a thank you and nearly goodbye to Isobel, who has been a temporary support for us and leaves us next week.

Project Initiation call with consultant Sunil, helping us with the Governance and operational planning of our AI Test Beds.

Panel Briefing call with fellow panellists for Global AI Cities panel next week.

Tool test pre-release with a team I have been contributing to as they evolve their proposition.

Train to London and a deluge of emails.

Thursday

What a pleasure to have a good hour with industry doyenne of digital inclusion and long-time social entrepreneur Helen Milner. Who knew that we’d move from addressing our respective AI challenges in the north of the UK to working on a plan to help societal change?

More AI Task Force governance planning.

AI Summit monthly Steering Meeting with our brilliant comms colleagues to work out the sequencing of announcements, evolve and socialise our themes and provide feedback on content.

Meeting with our colleagues involved in ironing out connectivity requirements for our Visual Language Model future approach.

Did you know Denmark has digital diplomats here? A pleasure to reconnect with Sidsel Bülow Skovborg, who was a fellow speaker at Tech UK a few weeks ago and I was kindly invited to share our thoughts and plans at an upcoming event at the Danish Embassy in Climate Action Week soon.

Catch up with our Office for Public Sector Innovation to join up on our respective approaches to rapid prototyping.

Friday

AI Task Force planning.

Call with my Transformation Leadership Peers on our Transformation Portfolio and aligning our work for systems, measurement and reporting.

Great discussion with our Business Support Hub team to see how I can help them champion our AI Exec training and discuss how we can build better internal capability on AI.

Global AI Cities briefing call for my forthcoming keynote in two weeks.

I had planned to draft the slides but pulled sideways on contracting issues, slightly annoying as I now have to spend this morning on a Saturday after weeknotes.

Great call with Faisal Abbasi, the Executive Director of AI and Data and his team at Bell Integration, showcasing how we are helping the region in AI and how that might be relevant and useful to companies looking to engage with the region. It was great to pick up the conversation we had started in San Jose at NVIDIA GTC in March.

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Events that I’m speaking at - coming up

16-17 June: Global AI Cities 2026, Manchester

10 Sept: Connected Britain, London

10 Nov: Brilliant Festival, Liverpool

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Tiffany St James

Chief AI Officer, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority