TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Global smart city development is pivoting from efficiency to resilience powered by sovereign artificial intelligence, experts remarked Tuesday (April 17) at the 2026 Smart City Summit and Expo (2026智慧城市展) in Taipei. Industry and government officials delivered a unified message at the conference opening: technology must now help cities predict crises, protect citizen data and create environments where residents genuinely want to live.
Samson Hu (胡書賓), chairman of the Taiwan Smart City Solutions Alliance (台灣智慧城市產業聯盟) and co-CEO of Asustek, told reporters cities are entering the "AI Control Tower" era, where AI-driven governance replaces simple monitoring. "Modern cities are actually entering a new era of so-called AICT," Hu said. "Technology must now anticipate problems before they become crises."
Hu outlined two major shifts: predictive governance using AI for real-time decision-making in traffic, health care and public safety, and "sovereign AI" that lets cities control their own data without relying on foreign cloud infrastructure. The message resonated with delegates from older industrial cities. Steve Wray, director of economic development for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said his city confronts a challenge that technology alone cannot solve.
"In Pittsburgh, we have more bridges per square kilometer than any city in the world," Wray said. "We have to monitor those bridges to understand when they need to be repaired." Pittsburgh now turns its vehicle fleet into data-gathering sensors — cameras mounted on garbage trucks and snow plows help officials identify roads needing maintenance. But Wray stressed that consulting city workers before implementing new systems matters as much as the technology itself.
He pointed to New Yorkers earning six-figure salaries who still live paycheck to paycheck as evidence that GDP fails to capture urban success. Arkaraprasertkul revealed Taipei and Kaohsiung (高雄) ranked first and second in a livability index he developed, which prioritizes disposable income and quality of life. The index, not yet peer-reviewed, weighs what residents can actually afford against what their cities provide.
Taiwan, Hu argued, stands uniquely positioned to help other cities make this transition. He cited Kaohsiung projects where large language models developed by MediaTek (聯發科技) and others connected more than 40 urban governance scenarios, allowing emergency services to access traffic data instantly during crises. The city also built a digital twin system enabling real-time decision-making across departments.
Hu cited another example where ASUS helped a Thai city introduce a sovereign AI model to enhance predictive governance and municipal services. He did not specify which city. "Sovereign AI is the cornerstone of a truly resilient city," Hu said. "Cities must possess independent intelligence to protect their citizens—not rent it from someone else."
Arkaraprasertkul brought 40 Thai mayors to the Taipei expo as part of a Chief Smart City Officer program. The Taipei Computer Association (台北市電腦商業同業公會) tailored the visit after researchers traveled to Thailand last year to assess local needs. He urged governments to bypass lengthy procurement processes and build prototype solutions using available data and AI tools, demonstrating a real-time bus tracking system for Phuket that uses satellite imagery instead of GPS.
"Let's stop waiting for procurement," Arkaraprasertkul said. "Let's start building products first with the magic of AI we have today." For Wray, the summit represents something Pittsburgh couldn't build alone: proof that aging industrial cities can reinvent themselves. His city will showcase robotics and AI startups from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh while studying what Taipei has already achieved. The three-day summit continues through Thursday (March 19) at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. ◼