Podcast: Tracking the journey from smart cities to AI cities (part one)

In this first instalment of a two-part special, SmartCitiesWorld’s Luke Antoniou sits down in London with Professor Jung Hoon Lee of Yonsei University, one of the leading thinkers at the intersection of AI, data, and urban innovation. As director of the Information Systems Intelligence Lab and adviser to South Korea’s National Smart City Committee and Presidential Council for the National AI Strategy, Professor Lee brings a rare mix of academic depth and hands-on policy experience.

At the heart of the conversation is the Global Smart City Index, which his team has been publishing every two years since 2017. Unlike high-level rankings that focus on broad economic indicators and policy statements, this index takes a micro-level view, analysing thousands of concrete services, infrastructures, pilot projects, living labs, and open datasets across 50 cities worldwide.

Luke and Professor Lee explore the dimensions the index uses to assess cities – from service innovation, urban intelligence, and sustainability to urban openness, infrastructure integration, ecosystems, and governance. They discuss why the latest edition reveals a widening “AI super gap” between cities able to make a decisive AI transition and those stuck in fragmented, department-by-department experiments.

The episode also unpacks a major shift: from visible, citizen-facing apps towards long-term investment in data platforms, AI-ready infrastructure, and physical AI. Along the way, they touch on the growing importance of city platforms, the move from reactive to proactive, AI-enabled operations, and how cities like Seoul, Singapore, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and London are positioning themselves for the next phase of urban digital transformation.

This is essential listening for anyone interested in how cities are preparing for the move from smart city to AI city. Stay tuned for part two, coming soon.