Two foundations offer $50 million for AI projects that improve city services

The Rockefeller Foundation and the OpenAI Foundation are committing $50 million to help cities use artificial intelligence to improve public services, especially for underserved communities, the Rockefeller Foundation announced. The program, Cities Deliver, opened its call for proposals on 14 October and aims for its projects to reach up to 100 million city residents worldwide.

The money goes out as grants of $500,000 to $2 million. Each project needs an eligible lead organization and a city government partner that has committed to work with it.

Grants for clinics, jobs, flood warnings and permits

The call names four focus areas. Public health covers frontline care, disease surveillance, disability services and food access. Economic mobility covers AI that connects unemployed and underemployed residents to income, skills and benefits, such as help enrolling in programs or finding training. Environmental resilience covers helping cities forecast, withstand and recover from environmental shocks, including emergency services and energy grids.

The fourth area, civic engagement, covers two-way service channels, court services and permitting. Projects about voting or elections are excluded.

There are two tracks. Seed grants of $500,000 to just under $1 million are for early ideas ready for a first city pilot. Scale grants of $1 million to $2 million are for solutions that have already been piloted and have early results. All grants run for 24 months, with half paid at the start and half after a documented midterm milestone.

Between 25 and 100 projects, depending on size

At those amounts, $50 million is enough for roughly 25 to 100 grants. Cities are where the demand is concentrating: they are now home to 45% of the world's 8.2 billion people, more than double the share in 1950, according to the UN's World Urbanization Prospects 2025. The number of megacities with 10 million or more inhabitants has grown from eight in 1975 to 33 in 2025.

The call sets conditions meant to keep the technology tied to real needs. Projects must address a problem the city government has prioritized, respond to credible demand from the city and its residents, and plan how to measure results through evaluation and user feedback. They also need a credible route to long-term funding, such as a city budget, because the grants do not guarantee follow-up money.

AI tools for public services are already being tested in other sectors. In India, a free assistant helps government school teachers plan lessons.

First decisions expected in April 2027

Lead applicants must be nonprofits, including university labs, or public benefit corporations; governments cannot apply directly. Questions are due by 31 October, and first-round proposals by 29 November. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed in January, with second-round proposals due on 1 March 2027 and final selections in April 2027. The program is managed by RF Catalytic Capital, an affiliate of the Rockefeller Foundation. The foundations have not said how the $50 million is split between them.