Councils draft in AI for routine public queries

Artificial intelligence (AI) bots have been drafted in to answer questions about tax and services at two local authorities.

The trial at South Norfolk Council and Broadland District Council was estimated to cost £149,000 for one year.

Software would be used online and over the phone to provide automated responses to "routine inquiries" from September.

However, some councillors warned the technology could be "more irritating" for people wanting to speak with a human.

Speaking at a meeting of South Norfolk Council's cabinet, officers said the use of AI agents was "no longer optional".

Instead, they said it was essential to make services more efficient.

The cost of running the technology would be shared between both authorities, using it to answer queries such as how to pay council tax.

However, it was not planned to be used for more personalised questions, such as finding out a caller's outstanding tax balance.

The AI bot would be the first point of contact for every caller to the councils.

Conservative councillor Kim Carsok said: "I wonder if there is a risk that some customers will be more irritated by the virtual agent.

"I think we all have phoned up a company and had to speak to a computer and didn't enjoy the experience quite as much as if we were talking to a real person."

Council officers hoped the AI agent would stop people having to trawl through websites for information.

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