144 creating chatbots without having to invest in expensive technology and external experts.” Generative AI-powered assistants and chatbots built on tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service provide citizens with self-service tools they can use to rapidly access information about public services, transportation, utilities and more. Canada’s City of Kelowna, for instance, has implemented an Azure-based AI assistant from Zammo.ai to provide citizens with plainly written or spoken guidance about more than 300 non-emergency municipal services. Now, they can get information about everything from the city’s airport to property taxes, landfill regulations, public utilities and the winter snowploughing schedule within minutes. The assistant can also guide citizens through the planning permission process for building new housing units on their land, eliminating the need for them to wait a long time for an in-person appointment. Elsewhere, Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and Microsoft partner TEIA have built an Azure-powered search engine to give the public access to thousands of historical legal documents and other data. And in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s 1.2 million customers can use chatbot Rammas to find out information about electricity and water services. Other governments and cities are using generative AI to automate basic clerical tasks and quickly interrogate vast volumes of accurate data, so employees can work more productively, make better-informed decisions and deliver personalised customer experiences. In the USA, for example, employees working for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection can use two different self-service, Azure OpenAIbased chatbots developed by Microsoft partner Acuvate to quickly resolve common IT and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has created a chatbot to enable 1.2 million customers to ask about their water supply “ Generative AI is fundamentally changing how governments and cities operate” Photo: Adobe Stock/EdNurg FEATURE
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