San Antonio Mayor Joins Global AI Mayors Forum, Launches Economic Security Group

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is positioning San Antonio for the artificial intelligence era through two coordinated initiatives. The city leader joined Bloomberg Philanthropies AI Mayors Forum, an international cohort of ten city leaders focused on AI adoption and community resilience. Simultaneously, she announced the Mayor's Economic Security Advisory Group (ESAG) to strengthen the local innovation ecosystem.

The Bloomberg cohort includes mayors from San Francisco, Tokyo, Madrid, London, Nairobi, Bogota, Kyiv, Buenos Aires, and Boston. Jones chairs the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Technology and Innovation Committee, giving her a platform to influence national policy discussions. Only three U.S. mayors were selected for the forum.

According to the official city press release, ESAG will focus on four key areas: artificial intelligence, quantum technology, biotechnology, and space manufacturing. The group consists of professionals with national security, advanced manufacturing, and biomedical experience. Jim Perschbach, president and CEO of Port San Antonio, chairs the advisory group.

Other ESAG members include Eric Adolphe (CEO, Forward Edge-AI), Raquel Cruz Bono (Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy Retired), Adam Hamilton (President & CEO, Southwest Research Institute), and John Goodson (CEO, Darkhive). The roster reflects San Antonio's military and defense industry connections.

Jones has been vocal about workforce preparation. During a City Council session, she criticized the Ready To Work program for including career options like billing clerk that AI is already replacing. She pushed for more aggressive consideration of AI impacts and better connections to trades careers. Electricians, HVAC technicians, and plumbers are jobs you're not going to AI your way out of anytime soon (a pragmatic observation that cuts through the usual tech optimism).

The mayor also highlighted San Antonio's second-largest cyber presence in the U.S. and the city's ownership of both utilities. These assets enable digital twin technology—essentially a model for the city above ground and below ground. Digital twins help with predictive maintenance and replacement timelines, allowing better budget planning for infrastructure.

San Antonio faces specific challenges that shape its AI strategy. The city ranks as the third-most impoverished in the U.S. and carries the "Military City USA" designation. Jones uses the Bloomberg forum to highlight these realities while discussing cost of living advantages and business opportunities with corporations.

There's a critical role for the community college district and a recently passed $987 million bond. Much of that funding addresses cyber and manufacturing needs. The timing matters—AI adoption is moving faster than workforce preparation programs can adapt.

According to San Antonio Report, Jones emphasized addressing inequities through technology while navigating budget challenges. She's been clear that data-informed decisions require thoughtful consideration of the datasets themselves.

The ESAG announcement came March 9, 2026, with Jones stating San Antonio isn't going to wait around to be asked to do something. The city will identify opportunities to strengthen its ecosystem and leverage natural strategic advantages. State and federal partners may be needed for certain initiatives.

Whether these initiatives translate into tangible workforce protection or just more advisory meetings remains to be seen. The real test comes when workers actually need to retrain and businesses decide where to invest. San Antonio has the framework, but execution determines whether this is preparation or positioning.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn