Understanding the Benefits and Challenges of AI in Local Government
- Zack Arnold
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
Artificial intelligence tools and processes are being adopted by local governments across the United States in an effort to improve efficiency and productivity. Though the adoption is not as rapidly paced as other industries, with research reporting about 26% of government executives having integrated AI across their organizations, it is still progressing forward.
There are a number of benefits to be aware of for local governments exploring the use of AI. These advanced technologies have tremendous potential to transform the public sector and improve services that millions of citizens access on a regular basis. However, there are critical challenges that come with this adoption as well, but ones that can have very low risk with the proper precautions and best practices. Continue reading to learn more about the benefits and challenges of AI in local government.
How Can AI Help Local Government?
There are many different ways that AI benefits local government operations and services. In several previous articles, we have covered a few of these advantages:
Improved translation tools for unemployment services, resulting in AI translations that take place three times faster than those done by a human
Enhanced wildfire detection including the ability to map out paths and detect signs of wildfires to be able to catch them before they become too destructive
Advanced fraud detection using AI pattern recognition technology that better protects public funds and data
Additionally, AI is being utilized to improve traffic safety and optimize city resources. Urban SDK, an AI company that equips public services with geospatial AI, recently released a new AI-powered solution which will enable its many city and county customers to improve the safety of their road conditions. Without this AI tool, local governments must collect data manually to address traffic problems and road conditions, which can take up a lot of time for public sector workers. However, AI has the power to collect that data from each roadway, providing all-day access to the information in addition to increased efficiency for resource optimization and identifying transportation challenges. With the help of AI, local governments can make roadways safer for drivers and take action to mitigate potential motor vehicle accidents.
In Michigan, local governments are seeing increased productivity and efficiency in their daily operations thanks to the use of AI. The technology is helping with patrol management, waste handling, translation services, and more. In Bay City, AI is helping with recycling education. A program by Prairie Robotics allows for environmental services workers to learn not only what type of material found in recycling is not supposed to be there, but what address the contamination came from. This allows for a postcard to be sent to the house or business to inform them of the material that shouldn’t be put in recycling. This type of education and information has great potential to improve community engagement in recycling.
These are just a few of the ways that AI is benefitting the public sector.
What are the Challenges of AI in Local Government?
62% of government officials cite data privacy and security concerns as main obstacles in the way of AI adoption. This is the main factor that ties many of the challenges for AI in local government together. In previous articles, we covered a few of these challenges:
Cybersecurity concerns such as attacks on interconnected systems, hallucinations, and deepfakes that can cause significant damage to public services and data
The risk of shadow AI, with 50% of employees using AI tools without knowledge or oversight from their organizations
There is also a major concern when it comes to the quality and management of the data being utilized by AI systems in local government. AI runs on large amounts of data, relying on its accuracy to produce the right results.
Data management is a huge challenge for governments developing AI for their operations, especially as many of them shift from outdated legacy systems where data inconsistencies were not uncommon. The many different formats of data in various mainframes and websites also contributes to this challenge, as it can be difficult to combine data from across organizations into one environment for AI to utilize. However, there are solutions to data management issues; for AI applications, cloud service providers provide advanced data preparation tools. These tools utilize advanced algorithms to extract relevant data from various sources, which minimizes both processing time and calculation costs.
Data quality is the other part of this roadblock to AI adoption. Outdated information can contribute to inconsistencies and errors which can cause the AI system to produce inaccurate and potentially biased results. To mitigate this risk, there are innovative tools that allow organizations to automate data cleansing. They eliminate duplicates and irrelevant information, correct errors and inconsistencies, and identify missing values through prediction and suggestion features. This should always be done before data is used in any AI implementation to ensure the best possible results. Even after implementing AI tools, consistent oversight is necessary for public sector agencies to ensure adherence to data quality standards.
AI is a powerful form of technology that is proving to be transformative in the public sector. Local governments have the capability to reap the benefits of AI to improve various aspects of public services and take action to mitigate any risk associated with it. Contact one of our experts today to learn more about how AI can improve your public sector organization.
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
– Paul J. Meyer, Motivational Speaker
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