Imagine a world where every citizen, resident, and visitor experiences seamless and effective interactions with local and state governments. Information about government services is easy to access and understand. Services are equally distributed and efficiently delivered. Civil servants administering these services have full access to the accurate information they need to perform their duties effectively. This isn't a distant dream—it's the power of AI for citizen engagement.
The Role of Generative AI in Local Government Citizen Engagement
Generative AI (GenAI) has the power to change how governments connect with those they serve. AI, when implemented correctly, can consistently and reliably answer questions and automate tasks, making public services more accessible.
A recent survey conducted by NASCIO and McKinsey among state CIOs reveals that government organizations are turning to GenAI to enhance productivity, focusing on the following key areas:
Streamlining citizen services and interactions
Automating repetitive tasks and processes
Automating content creation
Improving data analysis and decision-making
Let's explore how AI-powered citizen engagement tools in state and local government can help achieve these objectives and more.
Benefits of AI-Powered Citizen Engagement in Local Government
24/7 Availability
In our hyper-connected world, citizens and residents expect immediate, accurate answers from their local and state governments. The traditional methods of engagement—phone calls, emails, and in-person visits—are often slow, inefficient, resource-intensive, and frustrating for citizens and civil servants alike. Websites are available to citizens 24/7 and have helped substantially in serving information. But many citizen-serving websites are clunky, hard to navigate, and time-consuming for information seeking tasks. AI fills this gap by offering real-time, self-service support. This ensures that citizens and residents can access the resources they need — from obtaining permits, to learning about community events, and applying for the assistance they need — at any time, day or night.
Improved Information Access
Citizens, residents, and visitors are often overwhelmed by the information overload on local and state government websites. They don’t know where to look to find the answers they need. This can be a frustrating experience that leaves them feeling disconnected from their government and the services they expect.
Generative AI can help government workers and residents find reliable answers quickly from trusted sources. They can use GenAI applications to check proposals and permits, access local services, research public official decisions and community impacting actions, and more.
Increased Awareness of Community Resources
AI can help raise awareness about community resources and help citizens and residents access them with ease. AI can give clear and simple information in different languages and formats, including voice and text. This helps all residents, no matter their background or tech skills, find what they need.
Multilingual Support
AI tools that support multiple languages help break down language barriers. This makes communication easier between governments and their diverse communities. Multilingual support ensures that non-English-speaking residents can engage fully with government services.
Higher Efficiency and Cost Savings
Integrating AI into government support services like 311 enables staff to efficiently find accurate answers to citizens' inquiries. During low staffing periods, reliable self-service options can also be made available to residents. In emergency situations, AI can assist by delivering vital information to those in need. By alleviating the burden of the repetitive response requirements, government employees can focus on addressing more complex resident issues. This approach not only enables governments to address challenging needs more effectively with reduced wait times but also enhances resident satisfaction through streamlined and efficient service delivery.
Insight-Driven Service Delivery Improvements
AI tools help governments analyze data to identify gaps and improve services for their communities. For instance, government officials can see which questions are asked most often. They can also identify information gaps and find ways to improve service delivery and community engagement.
Faster Community Development
AI can streamline planning initiatives by helping employees find answers about rules, regulations, and contracts in seconds. This helps accelerate project planning and development, so citizens and residents see improvements to their community faster.
Digital Assistants: AI Tools for Local Government Community Engagement
AI-powered digital assistants are changing the game for how state and local governments engage with citizens and residents. They provide a variety of features that simplify access to services and enhance the overall citizen experience. Residents and visitors can easily find answers to their questions about various community resources. Whether it's obtaining a library card, reserving park space, or navigating public transit, help is readily available, from anywhere, at any time.
Using advanced machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) AI technologies, digital assistants deliver accurate, context-aware responses in multiple languages. This innovation improves communication between residents and governments and reduces the workload for human support agents.
How Digital Assistants Improve Citizen Engagement in Government
A recent survey of public sector leaders by GovLoop found that their top two goals for using AI are to:
Create efficient self-service options (34%)
Modernize and improve the services they provide to citizens (30%)
Digital assistants can help public sector leaders meet both objectives for AI implementation.
Digital assistants can help public sector leaders meet their top objectives for AI: improving self-service and modernizing citizen service.
Improved Self-Service
Imagine you're in a foreign country trying to navigate a non-English city website that was last updated in 2004. Consider the challenge of locating a specific piece of information buried among thousands of pages in a language you don’t understand. For residents of English-speaking countries whose first language isn't English, or for those who find it difficult to navigate a complicated web of resources, this scenario mirrors their experience of using most municipal websites.
AI digital assistants help citizens and residents easily access information and services through voice and text options in multiple languages. They provide fast, easy answers, so residents don't have to search sprawling websites or wait on hold for information.
"Having more space for government to serve each individual citizen on a personal level is the core part of where we want to go. And government has the ability to do that now using generative AI tools."
Imagine a helpful assistant. This assistant speaks many languages. It can answer questions about community resources, help with bookings, and guide residents on local services like waste management. All with a simple conversation.
Powered by advanced AI technologies like Pryon RAG Suite, digital assistants are setting new standards for constituent engagement. By providing instant, accurate responses sourced from thousands of municipal documents, digital assistants streamline administrative processes and deliver personalized experiences to citizens and residents. Their multilingual capabilities and natural language processing break down language barriers and ensure that all residents have equitable access to public information.
Example of Digital Assistant for Citizen Engagement: Pryon and a U.S. City
A U.S. city has transformed citizen engagement by introducing an AI digital assistant powered by Pryon. This powerful tool makes it easier for residents to access information about city services and community resources through conversation.
Nearly a quarter of the city's 200,000 residents do not speak English. This made it challenging for them to find information on the city’s website. The Pryon-powered digital assistant solves this problem by enabling smooth communication in multiple languages.
The digital assistant listens to questions and delivers accurate answers from thousands of webpages on the city’s website. The assistant ensures that all residents and visitors receive reliable, timely, and consistent information in their preferred language.
The city also gains valuable insights from the inquiries made by residents and visitors to the digital assistant. This feedback helps to identify gaps in access to information, allowing city government to make informed decisions that improve service for citizens and residents.
Learn how this U.S. city transforms citizen engagement with a multilingual digital assistant powered by Pryon RAG Suite
Selecting Trustworthy Generative AI Solutions for Citizen Engagement
Bringing GenAI into public service has the potential to significantly enhance government efficiency and improve citizen services. However, the success of these AI technologies hinges on their effective adoption and implementation. Establishing trust with constituents is crucial. This entails selecting AI tools that are not only high-performing but also secure and responsible.
State and local government organizations must carefully address potential risks such as data privacy and algorithmic bias in their AI initiatives. By thoughtfully navigating these challenges and evaluating AI solutions with these considerations in mind, public sector leaders can foster a trustworthy and innovative environment. This approach ensures that AI technologies are seamlessly integrated into public services, allowing citizens and residents to benefit faster.
Risks and Challenges of Integrating AI in State and Local Government
Putting aside the many benefits of AI, state and local governments must also consider the risks and challenges many low-quality AI tools pose before implementing a solution. These include:
Data Privacy: Government organizations must guarantee that access to sensitive content is restricted to authorized personnel only, ensuring that access controls are upheld throughout AI interactions.
Data Leakage: To safeguard sensitive and classified information from accidental exposure, government data must never be used for training AI models.
Security Vulnerabilities: Government organizations need to consider strategies to protect their GenAI systems from potential cyberattacks and other security threats.
Hallucinations and Misinformation: Government organizations need to implement guardrails to confirm and authenticate the information generated by GenAI solutions, ensuring residents don’t receive inaccurate or fabricated responses, known as hallucinations.
Bias and Discrimination: Government organizations must have a deep understanding and critical assessment of the data used to train AI models. If not handled properly, AI systems may perpetuate any biases inherent in the training data, leading to biased or discriminatory outputs.
Intellectual Property Infringement: Organizations need to be mindful of copyright and legal implications, particularly those regarding attribution and ownership, when using AI for content creation or modification.
Why Not ChatGPT or equivalent?
Consumer-grade GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT and similar platforms, fall short in meeting the specific needs of government entities. For example, they frequently struggle with managing duplicate content, lack essential administrative controls, and do not incorporate the robust security measures that state and local governments require.
Recommended reading
Unlike OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Pryon is purpose-built for the enterprise
What is Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Local Government?
Retrieval-augmented generation works by first retrieving relevant information from a pre-existing dataset and then generating responses based on that data. By combining the benefits of both retrieval-based and generative approaches, RAG ensures accurate and relevant responses while minimizing the risk of errors and biases.
Benefits of Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Local Government AI Applications
Improved Accuracy: By guiding generative LLMs to produce responses grounded in reliable content, RAG reduces the likelihood of inaccurate or made-up information.
Trusted Content: RAG responses are sourced solely from materials carefully curated by the organization, guaranteeing that the information is dependable and can be verified.
Transparent Source Attribution: Every generated response provides clear references to its sources, enabling users to trace the information back to its origin.
Stronger Access Control: Certain RAG architectures, such as Pryon’s, offer detailed control over who can access documents, ensuring that sensitive data stays protected and is available only to authorized users.
What to Look for in a RAG Solution for Local Government
Retrieval-augmented generation can help tackle many risks associated with GenAI applications, but state and local governments have specific needs that can make RAG implementation tricky.
Think about these scenarios and consider if any apply to your organization:
Your content exists in various file formats, such as PDFs, PPTs, videos, and text documents.
Some of your content may be of low quality or not in a digital format. For instance, it could be saved in an outdated format or be handwritten.
You have a large amount of content.
Your content is saved in multiple locations and systems.
You commonly come across duplicate files or have difficulty determining which version of a file is the most current.
Your content is updated regularly.
You need to safeguard your content, data, and queries from cyber threats.
You need to track usage of an AI tool to demonstrate value to residents and collect their feedback for future improvements.
You have budget limitations.
You need an AI tool that is user-friendly.
The questions you receive from citizens, residents, and employees are complex.
If any of the above scenarios applies to your organization, you should consider a RAG framework that incorporates the following core features:
High Accuracy
Multi-Modal Ingestion: Streamlines accurate information retrieval by enabling multi-modal ingestion from a variety of content formats (such as PDFs, PowerPoints, and Word documents) and across multiple systems (including SharePoint, ServiceNow, and Amazon S3).
Clear Attribution: Cites the sources of information, making it easy for users to trace where the information comes from, see it in the context of the original material, and dig deeper if they want to.
Continuous Ingestion: Allows for seamless updates as documents are added or updated.
Top Security
Document-Level Access Controls: Ensures that only authorized users can access sensitive documents, maintaining strict access control during AI interactions
Doesn’t Train on Citizen or Government Data: To protect against unintended data exposure of sensitive content or Personal Identifiable Information (PII), government and citizen data should never be used to train AI models.
Government-Level Scale
User Volume Support: Provides robust scalability to accommodate thousands of users, ensuring that citizens, residents, visitors, and employees can all access the tool seamlessly.
Content Source Connectors: Provides pre-built connectors to popular content repositories such as SharePoint, ServiceNow, Amazon S3, Salesforce, and Box, enabling your organization to save valuable time and resources. This feature allows for effortless point-and-click content updates as new content libraries are integrated or existing content is updated.
Rapid Time-to-Value
Accelerated Value Delivery: Provide citizens and residents with quicker access to value through a RAG solution that can be deployed in weeks instead of months or years.
Versatile User Experience Options: Offers a range of front-end interface choices, including chatbots and digital assistants, ensuring the flexibility you and your citizens require from an AI solution.
Enterprise-class RAG solutions like Pryon RAG Suite are designed from the ground up to include these features and more. This means that state and local governments can confidently use GenAI for citizen engagement, knowing that the solutions they choose offer high accuracy, strong security, quick results, and a best-in-class experience for residents and municipal staff.
How To Get Started with Trusted Generative AI for Citizen Engagement
Pryon RAG Suite helps state and local governments implement GenAI securely to get accurate and timely answers from trusted content, such as forms, regulations, case files, permits, public records, and webpages.
Our expert Solutions Engineers will work with you to design, build, and scale RAG-based solutions like chatbots and digital assistants, while reducing the risks of other GenAI offerings.
