The cuts represent one of the most significant staffing shakeups since Lurie took office less than two years ago. The innovation office has been central to the mayor's efforts to modernize city technology and reform the local bureaucracy.

The firings appear to be driven at least in part by a desire to replace staff with people who have different skills, including greater familiarity with artificial intelligence tools, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of personnel decisions.

In a statement, Lurie spokesperson Charles Lutvak said San Franciscans "expect effective, responsive government services, and in the city that is the global hub of innovation, we should be using cutting-edge technology to deliver that."

"With that technology becoming more capable than it was even a couple years ago, the Mayor's Office of Innovation should be capable of tackling a wide range of challenges to improve the services we provide our residents with their taxpayer dollars," Lutvak said. "As we bring that talent onto the team, we will use those tools to tackle some of the most important issues for San Franciscans, from public safety to the cost of living."

Lutvak did not say who made the decision to fire the employees. The office is currently led by director Eufern Pan, whom Lurie appointed in August. Pan reports to Kunal Modi, the mayor's chief of health and human services.

The innovation office has seen significant turnover this year. In March, director Florence Simon abruptly left her role, later saying the city was moving in "a different strategic direction." In September, a senior Lurie official who helped oversee the office resigned after just one year on the job.

Simon said in March that she had grown the innovation office from three people to ten with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable arm of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which provides critical funding for the office. This year, the Board of Supervisors approved a $7 million grant from the philanthropic group intended to finance and expand the office through December 2028.

One of the office's projects has been PermitSF, Lurie's signature initiative to overhaul the city's permitting system. When Simon departed, she said the office was shifting its focus toward "research and insights" rather than implementing "operational improvements and new technologies."

It remains unclear how the office's strategic direction might change after Friday's firings, but Lutvak suggested it will remain at the heart of the mayor's agenda. Lurie's top priorities include reducing crime, improving housing affordability and jumpstarting the city's economic recovery from the pandemic.

"When our streets are safe and residents can put down roots in their neighborhood, we support a recovery in San Francisco that reaches everyone in our city," Lutvak said. "That work is not just critical, it's also urgent, and our administration will leave no stone unturned in figuring out how to deliver on that promise for this city."