How AI Can Help Local Governments in 2024 – Use Cases & Risks

Is it possible for AI to reshape local governments and still safeguard against potential pitfalls? Let’s explore.

In this AI-first technological world, individuals, businesses, and governments use artificial intelligence ( AI) to streamline workflows and exclude unnecessary tasks. Making AI part of a process that will affect common lives is both aspiring and dangerous at the same time.

According to a Bloomberg report in June 2022, AI expenditures by governments like the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Canada are rising. For example, in 2020, the US government pledged more than $1 billion in AI funding. In March 2021, the government of Canada promised more than $500 million to advance its AI efforts.

When it comes to AI-powered decision-making, adding effectiveness is essential as the public sector deals with massive data. AI and robotization are helping improve processing speed, reduce costs, and deliver services to the public more quickly. AI technologies enable government realities to carry out their charge effectively and efficiently. That’s how the original government uses AI for its help.

This article will look at specific examples of how local governments will use artificial intelligence in 2024 and how it will transform their operations in the digital era.

AI in Local Government – Facts and Figures

• According to Statista, profit from the Artificial Intelligence( AI) software market worldwide is anticipated to reach 126 billion dollars by 2025.
• According to Gartner, 37 associations have implemented AI in some form, demonstrating a growing acceptance of AI technology and an increasing integration of AI skills within business processes. The chance of enterprises employing AI grew 270 over the past four times.
• According to Servion Global Solutions, by 2025, 95% of customer interactions will be powered by AI.
• A 2020 report from Statista reveals that the global AI software market is expected to grow approximately 54% year over year and reach a forecast size of  $22.6 billion.

Is AI Ready Enough to be part of Local Governments?

Undoubtedly, AI is changing the way we live and work. It’s already evolving local government. It can help local governments automate tasks, make better decisions, and increase citizen engagement. But are you sure you’ll make AI part of any government? Is AI ready to enter the government, local, public, private, or federal sector? 

Different governments have different answers to the above questions. It all comes down to the effectiveness of data at the government level, and this can take many forms. If we look at the US government, they are already making use of AI in their public sectors. It is benefiting the public sector across its vast mission areas, such as addressing global challenges like climate change and cancer, improving the quality and effectiveness of government services, and more.

Building on the success they’ve seen with national security applications, they’re exploring other ways to adopt the technology. AI advocates won the argument when the Trump White House signed the American AI Initiative (AUI), a “concerted effort” to promote and protect the nation’s AI technology and innovation, and published a strong public-facing AI development and education program. As we can see, the US government allowed the use of AI in government sectors.

What are the Key Benefits of Incorporating AI in Local Government?

Artificial intelligence for government services utilizes machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), and robotics for everything it does. If adopted thoughtfully, these technologies will bring real and tangible benefits. According to Booz Allen Hamilton’s 2023 Velocity Report, two-thirds of federal technology leaders believe technology will have the biggest impact on how work gets done by 2027.

• Reduced workload for local government workers: Resulting in long waiting times and delayed responses to citizens’ questions. By deploying AI-based chatbots and virtual assistants, original governments can automate routine tasks, reduce staff workloads, and free up their time to concentrate on more complex tasks.
• Improving citizen engagement: Citizen engagement is essential to the delivery of public services. AI-based chatbots and virtual assistants can provide citizens with 24/7 access to information and services, allowing them to get the help they need quickly and seamlessly. In addition, municipalities can improve their overall satisfaction by providing more efficient and personalized services to citizens.
• Improving data collection and analysis: Municipalities can use artificial intelligence to collect and analyze information about citizens’ behavior, preferences, and needs. This information may also improve service delivery and identify development goals.

Successful Examples of AI Incorporation in Local Governments

Several local governments worldwide have implemented AI-based solutions to increase citizen engagement. Here are some examples:

• New York Chat Room: ” Ask NYC” The New York government launched the” Ask NYC” chat room to give citizens quick access to information about city services. The chat is available 24/7 and can answer various recycling, parking, and housing questions.
• Dubai Virtual Assistant: The Government of Dubai has launched a virtual assistant to inform citizens about government services and procedures. The virtual assistant uses natural language processing( NLP) technology to understand citizens’ questions and give accurate answers.
• Singapore OneService App: The Singapore government has developed a OneService app that allows citizens to report problems like potholes, illegal parking, and littering. The operation uses artificial intelligence to analyze messages from citizens and allocate resources to break the problem.

Most Popular Use Cases of Local Governments Using AI

The features and applications of artificial intelligence are constantly evolving. As advanced as this technology is, it can be hard to believe it is still in its infancy. AI can still be used in many areas, and local governments must use these advances well. Here is a list of some of the uses of AI in local government.

Country	Institute	Application	Results
Australia	Taxation Office	Chatbot/Virtual Assistant	Had more than 3 million conversations -Resolved 88% of queries on first contact.
Australia	Department of Human Services	Chatbot/Virtual Assistant	Can answer general questions about family, job seekers, student payments, and related information.
Canada	Surrey Municipal	Chatbot/Virtual Assistant	It helps the city’s residents get answers to questions related to municipal infrastructure.
United States	Atlanta Fire Rescue Department (AFRD)	Predictive Analytics	Accurately predicted 73% of fire incidents in the building.
United States	Department of Energy	Solar Forecasting	Machine learning-based forecasts are as accurate as 30% more accurate than those created using conventional approaches.
United States	New York City Department of Social Services (DSS)	Machine Vision	Digitization of documents is achieved.
United States	City of Pittsburgh	Automated traffic optimization	Scalable Urban Traffic Control (SURTrAC) is connected to a network of nine traffic signals on three significant roads in Pittsburgh (Penn Circle, Penn Avenue, and Highland Avenue).

How is Artificial Intelligence Already Transforming Different Sectors?

Artificial Intelligence in Information Security

Information security, one of the most important resources of technology-oriented companies, is one of artificial intelligence’s most common and critical applications. With confidential information ranging from consumer information such as credit card information to organizational secrets stored online, data security is critical for any organization to meet legal and operational obligations. This job is both difficult and critical today, and many companies are using AI-based security solutions to keep their data out of the wrong hands.

With the world smarter and more connected than ever, AI plays a bigger role in business today. critical According to several estimates, cyber attacks will become more persistent over time, and security teams must rely on AI solutions to control systems and data.

Application of AI in Online Shopping

• Personalized shopping

Artificial intelligence technology creates recommendation engines that allow you to better communicate with your customers. These recommendations are made based on their browsing history, preferences, and interests. This helps improve your relationship with customers and their loyalty to your brand.

• AI assistants

Virtual shopping assistants and chatbots help improve the user experience when shopping online. Natural Language Processing makes the conversation as human and personal as possible. In addition, these assistants can communicate with your customers in real-time. Did you know that chatbots will soon be handling customer service at amazon.com?

• Fraud prevention

Credit card fraud and fake reviews are two of the biggest problems facing e-commerce businesses. By considering usage patterns, AI can help reduce the possibility of credit card fraud. Many customers want to buy a product or service based on customer reviews. Artificial intelligence can help identify and deal with fake reviews.

Applications of AI in Education

While humans have the greatest impact on education, AI is also slowly making inroads there. Even in education, this slow transition to AI has helped increase faculty productivity and focus more on students than on clerical or administrative work.

Some applications in this area include:

• Automated administrative tasks to assist teachers

Tasks of manual work are a tedious job. Can assist teachers with non-instructional tasks such as assignment-related tasks such as sending and automating personal messages to students, background tasks such as grading papers, organizing and facilitating parent/guardian communication, facilitating routine problem feedback, managing enrollment in courses, and HR. subjects

• Create intelligent content

Artificial intelligence can digitize video lectures, conferences, and textbooks. We can also implement different user interfaces, such as animations, and adapt learning content to students of other classes.

AI helps create a rich learning experience by developing and delivering audio and video summaries and lesson plans.

• Voice assistants

Even when a lecturer or teacher is directly involved, students can access additional learning material or help through a voice assistant. This avoids the costs of printing temporary instructions and providing answers to frequently asked questions.

What are the challenges of artificial intelligence in the public sector?

Implementing artificial intelligence in local government comes with its own set of challenges. Here are the most notable ones that your local government will have to find a way around if they are thinking of riding on the AI bandwagon anytime soon.

High Investment

One of the main obstacles is the initial cost to adopt and implement AI technologies. Artificial intelligence can improve and streamline processes across various industries but often requires significant infrastructure, software, and training investment. Many local governments need additional resources and tight budgets, which makes it difficult to allocate money to AI initiatives.

Unemployment

Unemployment is the scariest aspect of AI in local government sectors if you ignore the hypothetical AI takeover. As providers of public services, governments should be concerned about the impact of AI on government workers’ work. To mitigate the effects of potential unemployment from automation, governments should ensure that people focus on more value-added tasks or move to the private sector if their current tasks are automated.

According to the European Commission’s Eurobarometer survey, which presents the opinions of people European citizens on the impact of digitization and automation on everyday life

• 74% of respondents expect that more jobs will be lost than created due to the use of robots and artificial intelligence.
• 72% of respondents believe that robots will steal people’s jobs.
• 44% of currently employed respondents believe that a robot or AI could do at least some of their current work.

AI Bias

AI algorithms may contain biases due to biases or misleading information from the algorithm development team. While creating an unbiased AI algorithm is technically possible, AI can only be as good as the data, and humans are the ones who make the data. Therefore, the best that governments can do about AI bias is to minimize it by implementing best practices.

Explainability

AI is not fo everyone. It is difficult to explain how all AI algorithms arrive at their predictions (ie conclusions), but technical approaches are being developed to overcome this deficiency.

This is problematic in the public sector, where the rationale of decisions is more important than in the private sector. The public sector is responsible to the public, while the private sector is mainly to shareholders.

Responsibility

The responsibility for the outcomes of artificial intelligence systems is subjected to the code of ethics of artificial intelligence. Governments like the US and the UK are introducing new corporate liability laws for AI algorithms. It would be hypocritical not to hold governments and corporations accountable for their AI algorithms’ mishaps and false predictions.

Difficulties of Change

• The age of public servants: The government workforce is older than the workforce of state officials in the private sector, which makes it difficult to implement cultural changes. According to research by the US Census Bureau, about 24% of public sector workers are millennials, compared to 34% in the private sector.
• More Obscure/Complex KPIs: The government has more complex and difficult-to-measure KPIs.

The Way Forward

AI has huge potential to improve government services. Advanced technologies allow government agencies to reduce labor costs, speed up processes, save man-hours, and provide smoother and faster service to the public.

As more local governments embrace AI, pressure is building on everyone who can’t afford to be left behind. If you’re a local government wanting to utilize the latest technology in the modern era, consider the benefits of AI and how it could benefit your community while keeping the risks in mind. 

Recognizing the critical need for advanced technological integration, local governments seeking a reliable and experienced partner need look no further than Cubix. Specializing in cutting-edge technology, Cubix offers scalable, safe AI solutions that pave the way for smarter, more efficient digital infrastructure. Whether enhancing service delivery or optimizing operations, Cubix is your gateway to a better, safer, and more secure AI-driven future.