The Role and Use of AI In Local Government

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT have become commonplace in many people’s day-to-day lives. Statista found that more than 110 million people have already leveraged these tools. That number is expected to grow to a staggering 242 million by 2030. It’s clear that AI has surpassed its buzzword status and now permeates nearly every aspect of how we work and play in modern-day society. The use of AI in local government is no exception.

The State of Automation and AI in Government

As awareness of AI’s huge potential has grown, so has adoption among governments across the country. The federal government and more than 20 states have established commissions for governing AI use or released official policies to guide employees and residents.

More than half of jurisdictions reported actively exploring potential AI use cases in 2024 and around half say they’re working on comprehensive strategies. Among individuals, AI usage is more ubiquitous, with 77% of survey respondents saying they’ve used generative tools at work or at home.

The CivicPlus Chatbot automates resident customer service to eliminate wait times and offers personalized, data-informed responses. Learn more about adding this AI-powered tool to your municipal website.

AI-Powered Automation Enables Governments

The numbers clearly show that local governments see huge potential in AI. Yet many leaders aren’t sure where AI and automation will provide the most value—or how to get started.

Here are just a few of AI’s many benefits and some examples of how AI can make life better for your residents and staff.

Benefits of AI in Government

Increased efficiency: AI can complete manual tasks far faster than even the most experienced human hands, enabling public servants to devote their attention elsewhere and increasing the speed of resident service.

Cost savings: Minimizing manual workloads and eliminating costly human error can lead to significant reductions in operating costs, and ongoing data analysis can continually point the way to additional savings.

Improved decision-making: AI-powered data analysis brings key insights to the surface, so leaders spend less time interpreting information and more time making decisions that promote cost-efficiency, drive sustainability, and serve residents’ needs.

Reputational gains: Applied responsibly, AI can boost the public’s confidence and earn agencies a reputation for resident-centric innovation.

Potential Applications for AI and Automation in Government

Though many municipalities are still in the early days of AI adoption, governments of all sizes are already realizing the potential of AI to streamline operations and improve resident engagement.

Streamlining Government Operations with Automation and AI Solutions

Automating routine tasks: Odds are that tasks like data entry and application processing take up much of your team’s valuable time. Automating repetitive tasks like these gives back countless hours and can contribute to a greater sense of satisfaction. Automation can streamline error-prone processes and prevent more costly consequences.

Empowering improved decision-making: By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI-powered tools equip governments with insights to forecast trends, predict outcomes, and make more cost-effective, forward-looking decisions. For example, real-time analysis of social media feeds can trigger alerts based on current and historical analyses to help you take proactive steps in moderating discussions.

Improving community security: With data analysis from AI-powered tools, law enforcement agencies can proactively address potential threats and predict crime patterns to ensure a safer environment. AI can defend you and your residents in cyberspace, too, by identifying potential attackers in real time and automating incident response.

Enhancing Resident Communication

Boosting the efficiency of public service: AI chatbots and virtual assistants can offer personalized assistance to residents while reducing wait times or eliminating them completely. Leveraging AI in these routine interactions leaves your team with more time to focus on the complex work of serving residents.

Increasing the accuracy and relevance of communication: With vast amounts of data at its disposal, an AI-driven solution for engaging residents can tailor your messaging to reach the right people at the right time, keeping them informed and boosting trust.

Fostering an engaged community: AI tools for gauging public sentiment on social media can help you better understand what matters most to your residents, address concerns promptly, and encourage everyone to remain engaged with their government.

More Potential AI and Automation Applications for Governments

Operations and Management

AI can enhance efficiency and improve decision-making by gathering data, analyzing spending patterns, and forecasting future demand. Additionally, automation improves accessibility by simplifying translation and streamlining meeting management.

Task Management

In addition to automating routine tasks and streamlining resident communication, AI can assist your team with content creation and offer detailed summaries of meetings and archived records. As a “co-writer,” AI can conduct automatic compliance reviews that reduce the risk of human error and free up countless hours. Just make sure to keep a human in the loop to verify the accuracy and completeness of AI-generated documents.

Resident Engagement

Automated summaries and updates are as helpful for your residents as they are for your staff. Notifications for program availability or registration deadlines keep users informed and increases participation. Additionally, AI analyzes past user behavior to offer dynamic online experiences and personalize recommendations based on interests. AI-enabled analysis of resident sentiment can help you cut through the noise on social media to directly address resident needs.

Data Analysis

AI can organize, analyze, and process immense datasets to deliver actionable, customized reports that offer predictive insights for effective planning. You can even use AI to detect AI-generated images on your social feeds or to weed out misinformation.

The Path Forward: Best Practices for Implementing AI in Government

All the excitement around AI can make it tempting to jump in, but it helps to take time to plan your next move carefully with these best practices. The right approach will help you overcome obstacles like fear of change or uncertainty around data privacy—while introducing new solutions hastily can leave you scrambling.

Avoid implementing bans: The usage statistics make it clear that your team is likely already leveraging AI in their professional and personal lives. Banning the use of AI altogether risks alienating team members who’ve grown accustomed to making their workdays simpler with AI.

Build a comprehensive strategy: Like any major initiative, implementing AI takes careful planning and project management. Incorporate guidelines for responsible, ethical AI usage and conduct regular reviews to ensure your policies are evolving at the pace of technology. Setting these standards up front will ensure your investments in technology are intentional.

Improve AI literacy across your organization: Though your team may be using AI today, they may not be experts. Without a thorough understanding of AI tools, they may not realize their full potential or risks. Identify experts to guide internal education initiatives for your team and promote responsible, effective AI usage.

Guide procurement processes: Responsible, effective AI deployment begins with a strategic vendor review and selection process. If possible, appoint your internal experts as project managers to steer key decisions from procurement through implementation and long-term management.

Solving Common Challenges

Though it presents countless opportunities, AI also comes with a set of challenges. For many agencies, these include:

• Data privacy: Protecting your resident’s sensitive information is always a top priority. This means building data protection policies into your AI strategy and selecting secure solutions are both important for maintaining public trust.
• Workforce readiness: Employees benefit from continuous training to ensure they’re up to date on the latest tools and methodologies and equipped to effectively leverage your solutions.
• Value: As with any investment decision, it’s important to consider ROI. Check out this webinar to learn more about proving the potential ROI of a tech investment.
• Resistance to change: Both employees and the public may resist efforts to introduce AI into their daily lives. Transparent communication about AI’s benefits and the ways you plan to use it helps to mitigate pushback.

AI-Powered Features from CivicPlus

We’re hard at work designing purpose-built, AI-powered features to help customers confidently enter the next era of government. Today, CivicPlus offers AI-powered solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of government agencies, including:

• CivicPlus Chatbot: Our automated assistant uses the information on your website to quickly and accurately address questions from residents.
• Risk Analysis: NextRequest uses machine learning and pattern matching to scan documents and determine the likelihood that they contain sensitive information, preventing unintentional exposure of private data.
• Actionable Reporting: Our Social Media Archiving solution uses text and sentiment analysis across social channels to provide real-time insights into resident dispositions. This means you can pinpoint top conversations and successful social media efforts to inform social media strategy and communication plans.
• Real-Time Alerting: The Social Media Archiving solution helps you quickly highlight conversations and comments that demand your attention by automatically identifying profane or violent content.

Get in touch to learn more about our current capabilities and our vision for an exciting future.