Shen Boyang, the Taipei mayoral candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, held a discussion with about a hundred Taiwanese youth in Japan in Ebisu, Tokyo today, and proposed ideas for AI urban governance that are of concern to young people. He advocated that if Taipei wants to become a true "AI city," it cannot just ask civil servants to take classes to learn AI. Instead, it should establish an "AI coaching" system that allows professionals to directly enter city government bureaus, business districts, and industrial sites to identify needs and then develop tools that can truly solve problems.
This discussion was organized by "Shanshan Shihui", and most of the participants were Taiwanese young people working, studying and living in Japan. The organizer also conducted an on-site investigation and found that there were about 10 to 20 Taipei citizens among them. Since the number of places available for admission is limited, there will also be a "flash sale" situation during the registration stage.
Today, the organizer specially arranged a sofa to make Shen Boyang sit more comfortably. However, when he arrived at the scene, he found that sitting would affect his rear sight, so he changed it to a high chair to once again show his considerate side.
Today’s discussion topics include urban renewal, smoking area setting, AI urban governance, urban resilience, and how Taipei can retain talents and provide employment opportunities.
In an interview after the meeting, Shen Boyang said that he was really happy today because many, many young friends came. Everyone really has a lot of expectations for Taipei. Everyone asked a lot of in-depth questions, including issues about caring for the elderly, parent pressure, and housing issues. Each question was very in-depth. He hoped that the content he answered could change Taipei City in the future.
At the meeting, some young people asked how AI can assist urban governance in the future. Shen Boyang said that AI is a revolutionary tool and an important area for Taipei to attract domestic and foreign talents and develop industries. However, the current way the government promotes AI is putting the cart before the horse.
Shen Boyang bluntly said that asking civil servants to take AI courses does not solve the problem at all, and may just be a waste of time. Citing his past experience at Academia Sinica as an example, he proposed an "AI coaching" system, such as sending AI talents to traditional business districts for 3 to 6 months to work with stores, understand the actual processes, identify links that can be improved with AI, and then bring the needs back to the city think tank to develop tools. He said that instead of waiting for everyone to learn AI, we should let people who understand AI enter the scene and make the tools that are really needed.
Shen Boyang also proposed the "Youth AI Plan", in which the Taipei City Government directly negotiates with major AI companies for overall authorization, providing young people with a unified usage quota, which can be used for different AI tools such as text, pictures, programs, and audio and video. It replaces some of the current subsidies and requires complicated procedures such as purchasing, taking classes, and even writing experience, and lowers the threshold for young people to use AI.
Shen Boyang also inspected the smoking area facilities in Shibuya District this morning, accompanied by Kobe City Councilor Hiroyuki Uehata, and used smoking spaces in Tokyo as an example to illustrate the concept of urban governance. He pointed out that many department stores in Tokyo, under railway overpasses and in public facilities have smoking spaces so that smokers and non-smokers can coexist. When Taipei carries out urban renewal or large-scale development in the future, it should also start from actual usage behavior and incorporate relevant facilities into the building and block design in advance, rather than waiting for problems to occur before temporarily adding facilities on sidewalks.
