AI use in local government

BY Mike Manson , Chief Executive of @ALGIM

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm but you may be surprised to learn its origins started almost 70 years ago when the term was coined by emeritus Stanford Professor John McCarthy in 1955 and was defined by him as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”.

So why is AI now at the forefront of technology discussions, with such an explosion in interest? Quite simply it is the advancement of sheer processing power (GPUs), which means it can provide fast, significant assistance at scale.

While it can offer councils a productivity boost, it is important to recognise that this tool is valuable for assisting with data-driven decision making, but shouldn’t totally replace the human brain – at least not today.

While we should look at ways to take advantage of these tools, there are also practical steps we need to take to ensure we don’t get caught up in the hype around its ‘superhuman’ problem-solving capabilities. Every council needs to have strong AI leadership, and should be addressing the following questions.

Before these tools begin being used – do you have an AI policy or governance strategy in place? Does it discuss things like ethics, trustworthiness and data quality? Is there a committee or some AI oversight? What impact will this have on how your council works and the people involved – have you conducted an organisational readiness assessment?

AI tools are only beneficial if the right people and knowledge are feeding into it. Have you looked at prompt training for the staff who will be your AI champions? Have you budgeted for the license fees for AI subscriptions? How many staff will need to be licensed?

What pilots are you undertaking and how do these align to your strategic goals? Consider carefully if success in these areas will make a real, practical difference.

When things do go wrong, there needs to be plans in place. Have you considered if your community will have fears about AI and how you can keep them informed? If an AI chatbot gives false information to a member of the public, who is accountable?

A smart organisation learns from others, rather than reinventing the wheel. Have you looked at what other councils are doing when trialling AI? What about global learnings and case studies?

When working with councils around the world within my role at ALGIM, I continue to be impressed with what they are doing in this space. While many of us are only beginning our AI journey, over the past five years Swindon Borough Council in the UK has been using it to achieve significant returns. A small team of three even generated an impressive ROI of 6.3 million percent using these tools.

Recognising the value of their experience, ALGIM is bringing Swindon’s head of innovation to Wellington for a keynote address and workshop at our November conference.

This will offer valuable insights for all of you in local government by showcasing practical applications and their tangible benefits. By learning from each other, we can enhance our results while avoiding the costly mistakes that exploring a new, uncharted territory can bring.

Here in New Zealand, there are two projects that have caught ALGIM’s eye. A project at Nelson City Council – where they developed an AI application to process Long-Term Plan submissions – is really impressive. The application not only provides sentiment analysis and submission theming but also allows for staff to quickly query the AI tool if other queries come up during the deliberations. Additionally, the AI app assisted with the generation of responses to all submitters.

I think the greatest return on investment lies in the benefits it can deliver to the communities you serve. For example, in Palmerston North, where residents represent 120 different nationalities, this technology could bridge communication gaps and enhance community engagement.

While AI presents many opportunities, it’s important to remember that it’s still far from perfect. For example, a Canadian airline faced liability when its chatbot provided incorrect advice contrary to the airline’s policies. AI application needs to be monitored closely, and does not exempt us from our existing legislative requirements.

We hope our own laws and regulations will soon catch up with these advances in technology.

If you have questions about the future of AI, then ALGIM can support you in navigating these. For one, we have developed an AI Policy that councils are freely able to use, and we also offer readiness assessment tools, can facilitate training, provide video content for educating communities, and our research shares best practice insights from around the globe.

We want to ensure councils are integrating AI responsibly and effectively, and we are committed to helping in this space.