When Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities wanted to unveil its newest initiative, it created a public service announcement video.

Instead of casting human actors, though, the department turned to artificial intelligence.

The DPU video explains the city’s newest method of collecting on delinquent accounts, using a “flow restrictor” so customers can still have access to water while getting the opportunity to pay their bill.

At the time the video was posted, it was not labeled as being created using AI. After an inquiry from The Richmonder, a label has since been added to the video’s description.

The city paid $2,250 to an outside developer to make the video, a spokesperson said in an email.

A city spokesperson declined to make people involved with the video available for interviews but pointed to an AI policy released by Mayor Danny Avula’s office last June, which lays out five “Ethical Principles” for AI technologies deployed by the city: fairness, transparency, accountability, privacy and security.

“The City is in the process of writing a comprehensive Generative AI policy,” spokesperson Ross Catrow wrote. “That policy, once drafted, will need to be approved by the City’s AI Working Group, the Director of the Office of Strategic Communications, and City leadership. The policy will address attribution and citation, use cases and associated risks, inherent biases in the tools, and compliance with public records regulations.”

He added that the Department of Information Technology has hired an AI and data science program manager. According to Catrow, this person “helps shepherd the City’s growing AI work and procedures. This includes determining AI technology suitability and risk and guiding AI technology adoption.”

How can you tell it's AI?

The video, at first glance, appears to star human actors. When I watched it, I was torn on whether or not it was AI, so I asked Google’s Gemini assistant, which told me it wasn’t.

(Gemini has since updated its stance now that the video has been labeled as AI in the description.)

So I did what any old person should, and showed it to two younger co-workers. Both immediately and emphatically pegged it as AI. Here’s what they saw:

One possible tell: The envelope has no address. One definite tell: There is a no-parking sign in the middle of the yard.

The water scene was deemed “unnatural.”

To steer clear of copyright issues, AI often shies away from recreating exact logos. The DPW vest resembles the Richmond flag, but not exactly.

When the man is pointing to the bill, it creates a line on the page where he touches.

Mayor Danny Avula has been open in his embrace of AI. During a recent Q&A on Reddit, he said he is “actively working to incorporate more AI usage into City Hall to help our workers be more efficient, so they can spend their time doing the important human things that only humans can do (like a social worker providing support to a client).”

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The Virginia General Assembly passed a law this year requiring school districts to adopt a policy regarding AI use in classrooms as the technology becomes increasingly prevalent.

Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.