What’s Working: Cities like Denver want AI to handle boring, tedious tasks

When it comes to adopting artificial intelligence technology for the city of Denver, the potential misuse or harm caused to consumers is top of mind. But sometimes, the boring stuff is what attracts the attention of someone like Mayor Mike Johnston, who with his team dreamed up this week's DenAI Summit .

"I think the places where we find the greatest concerns are around things like national security and warfare, and particularly around personally identifiable health information or other data," Johnston said. "But we think there are much simpler use cases that we can adopt earlier."

Take for example, Boltwise , he said. The Denver startup uses AI to identify nuts, bolts, fasteners and other hardware that professional contractors need for bids, quotes and construction projects. In an industry where contractors typically describe what they need, the apparently wide inability to nail down the exact nut could delay a project. AI takes the descriptions to find the right items without the back-and-forth or guesswork.

"If you saw Boltwise, they're changing the way you prioritize ordering nuts and bolts — literally nuts and bolts — that can be much simpler, much faster than having someone from our general services team have to run down to Home Depot every couple days and search for 75 new bolts," Johnston said. "We think these are the kind of easy, compelling innovations that will make the city run more smoothly."

The city is also "having conversations" with CivCheck to pilot AI tech that would speed up the city permitting process.

"We are piloting an AI tool on permitting intake right now, which is when you just apply for a permit. Often it takes eight days for us just to intake, which is just to give us your name and info and the rest," he said.

CivCheck relies on AI to make sure applicants fill out forms completely and correctly. The Boston company's AI software helped the city of Honolulu reduce plan review time by 70% by educating applicants, finding code conflicts and prescreening so city staffers didn't waste time with incomplete or noncompliant forms.

Could AI have helped Denver's migrant influx?

But here's one use case that Johnston put out for any interested AI startup: help with the migrant crisis. Thousands of immigrants arrived in the city in the past year and needed help filing asylum claims, which can be a 40-hour legal process, he said. That meant they needed translators and attorneys, not to mention the individual must fill out numerous state and federal forms.

"This would be a great place where there could be an AI tool to do this," he said. "Someone could give a 20-minute interview and we could just say, tell us your story, how you got here, where you came from, what the experience was."

AI would then translate it from Spanish to English and fill out the appropriate spots in the 40-page questionnaire. Then instead of a lawyer working with the applicant and translator to do the interview and fill out the form over dozens of hours, it could take just one hour.

"We could 100X the number of asylum claims we could have done," he said. "We would have used just as many immigration attorneys but just would have been able to use their time more efficiently. ... These are places where technology solutions could be win-win."

Someone needs to build it, though, and that's why DenAI was a worthwhile effort for Denver, he said.

"But if it did exist," he said, "we would use it."

: Artificial intelligence takes center stage at Denver's inaugural DenAI Summit

Colorado's $14 million quantum update

Earlier this week, the state's quantum Tech Hub had a ceremonial groundbreaking for a 70-acre campus in Arvada, the former home of oil-shale company Tosco and its old 180-foot lift pipe used to research the extraction of oil shale from rocks. But the fresh mound of dirt won't be where the action will take place. The main operations of the Elevate Quantum Consortium are to the east, where about 60,000 square feet of buildings sit in need of renovation.

Colorado School of Mines paid $14 million for the property and plans to spend another $6 million or so to fix up the site by turning the existing facilities into labs, clean-space fabrication plants and offices. More details of how much money is going into the project is here: " Colorado's multimillion dollar investment in quantum gets 70-acre campus in Arvada "

Some other bits that didn't get into the main story:

Maybell Quantum, the Denver maker of super-cold fridges to slow atomic motion of quantum computers for effective operation, has grown since we last checked . Maybell's has 50 employees, from 16, and has sold its systems into eight countries — "Should be nine by the end of this week," said founder Corban Tillemann-Dick on Monday. The company has raised $30 million from venture investments to date, which includes $28 million in a Series A in February.

The quantum incubator , which the University of Colorado Boulder is working on, has committed $6 million to making it happen, said Massimo Ruzzene, CU's vice chancellor for research and innovation. Part of the funds "will go to secure a space" off campus, Ruzzene said. "Our commitment would be to provide the space to the consortium so that we can launch it very quickly."

Meanwhile, criteria for the two state quantum business incentives (valued at $74 million) are underway, said Eve Lieberman, executive director of Colorado's Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Only Elevate Quantum is eligible for the tax credits, which would be granted as the organization attracts new companies to open and expand at the Arvada or Boulder sites. Banks can request tax credits for any losses on loans to quantum companies. Quantum businesses are eligible for the state's regular job-growth incentives, like the job-growth tax credits and Strategic Fund.

There's a lot of interest in the U.S. and internationally in the Colorado sites, said Mike Landes, OEDTI's senior business development manager. "We've heard from a lot of partners in the Netherlands, in Finland and Sweden and Switzerland. These are all major centers for quantum," said Landes, adding that OEDIT will be promoting the quantum hub during its trip to Taiwan and South Korea in November. "There'a a lot of quantum markets (in the U.S.) but very few that have the assets and resources that we do."

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Interest rates dropped. Big whoop, readers say

As expected, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday by a half point . But mortgage rates went up the next day. That's because the cut has long been expected and, as Mortgage News Daily reported, the 30-year-fixed rate increased a day after the Fed cut to 6.17% because "it was never about the rate cut itself," says the housing news site .

What's Working readers were largely in the same mindset, with 67.6% of the 102 folks responding to the latest reader saying they planned to do nothing when rates were cut. But about 15% said they'd buy a house, car or other big ticket item.

Some folks who shared a comment about what their plans were exactly included Tara from Fort Collins, who plans to continue paying off her existing debt and then get a home-equity loan to fix other parts of her home. Jim over in Highlands Ranch plans to buy a refrigerator and dishwasher.

A few folks who didn't share their names mentioned they need to buy a newer car, build a garage or fix up their basement. One person from Maryland has been watching rates closely because they're "retired and waiting to move to Colorado."

But for sure, one industry that is feeling relief is residential real estate and all those who are supported by it. Says George Burson in Louisville about what he's going to do:

"Be happy," Burson wrote, "especially since one of my sons is a mortgage broker."

Thanks for playing along and taking the poll everyone!

New reader poll: Thoughts on AI?

AI seems like it's everywhere. But do you know where it is in Colorado? Share your thoughts in this fun little poll for What's Working readers. cosun.co/WWai

Other working bits

Colorado unemployment rate hits 4%. As the nation's unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.2%, Colorado's rate went up by the same fraction in August. The last time the state was at 4% was January 2022. What happened in August? Roughly 2,200 more people were unemployed last month, outnumbering the 2,000 Coloradans who joined the labor force with a job. A look at the change in jobs still shows that jobs are growing, at 1.4% forever the past year (slightly below the nation's growth of 1.5%). Employers added 7,400 jobs last month with the educational and health services industries adding the most. No industry had significant job declines. >> See the state's August job report

Colorado tops nation for growth in quitters, tied for 3rd for layoffs. That's according to the July Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But these are growth rates, which caused the BLS to call the state out . But in looking at the data, Colorado ranked a bit lower for the month of July, the latest available. For job quitters, Colorado's rate ranked second highest at 3.2% compared with number one Alaska at 3.5%. For all job separations, the state tied for fifth at 4.7%. Alaska, again, took the lead at 5.9%. While the monthly JOLTS data relies on small survey samples, the monthly trends help economists figure the state's job situation. In July, that amounted to 1.7 job openings per unemployed Coloradan, or about where it's been for months, according to our analysis. >> See JOLTS data

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I can't believe it's already been six years since I and my journalism colleagues started The Colorado Sun in 2018. While this is still not a financially sustainable operation, we are grateful to our thousands of members who help keep us going. THANK YOU everyone!!

I'll be working at the SunFest 2024 (there's still time to register) swag table next Friday. Stop by and say hello if you're a What's Working reader! As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww . ~ tamara

Miss a column? Catch up:

Techstars Denver spotlights tech startups tackling workforce issues

Colorado homeowners insurance increased nearly 60% in five years

How a Colorado program is linking quantum, space and tech companies to a future workforce

Colorado incentives are helping rural firms transition to employee ownership

This guy wants to get rid of endless phone loops, junk fees and other consumer irritants

Market recovers but here's why Colorado job growth is slowing

As food-insecurity funds end, Colorado farmers focus on food hub

Colorado top-paying and lowest-paying jobs

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