Wellesley town officials are planning to expand the use of artificial intelligence in town government, with the goal of improving efficiency, data analysis, and public access to information while maintaining strong safeguards around privacy security.
During a Select Board meeting back in August, town Executive Director Meghan Jop identified permitting, infrastructure planning, budget analysis, and public engagement as areas where AI could play a larger role in the coming fiscal year.
According to Information Technology Director Brian DuPont, the effort builds on technology already in use rather than initiating a sudden and sweeping change. He emphasized the difference between “narrow” and “generative” AI technologies, both of which are already being utilized by town employees and are included in Wellesley’s plans to expand AI use in town government.
Narrow AI are systems designed to perform specific tasks and have no creativity beyond their domain, like Siri or Google Maps. Generative AI are systems that can create new content based on patterns from large data sets, such as ChatGPT.
“When most people think of AI, they think of generative AI technologies, like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini,” said DuPont. “Town employees have already embraced tools like these to perform basic administrative functions, like summarizing email conversations, translating a document, writing a job description, or producing content for social media postings.”
“In the last year or so, we’ve seen an explosion of narrow AI technologies in the marketplace that were designed specifically to support municipal functions,” DuPont continued. “Sometimes, it’s an entirely new product. Other times, it’s a new feature or function that’s been rolled out into existing systems that towns are already using.”
Aside from the basic administrative functions town employees use generative AI for, various town departments utilize narrow AI to improve performance. According to DuPont, the Department of Public Works demonstrated the use of an AI called Citilogix that analyzes high-definition LiDAR (light detection and range) data and assesses the condition of road and sidewalk surfaces. The Select Board uses Otter and ClerkMinutes to transcribe meetings and quickly generate minutes for public distribution. As of September, the Traffic Committee is planning to utilize the AI tool UrbanSDK to analyze traffic volume data for pedestrian and bicycle safety, and construction-related congestion.
There are also plans to incorporate AI into areas of town government that weren’t mentioned in the Select Board meeting. DuPont noted that AI plays a big role in cybersecurity for the IT department. “They [AI tools] help us quickly analyze threats, prevent attacks, and respond to cyber incidents,” said DuPont.
Although AI can be helpful in maintaining proper cybersecurity, a concern surrounding the expansion of AI use in Wellesley government is protection of the town’s data privacy and security.
“In the IT Department, we approach these issues with a combination of technical controls, guidance, and education,” said DuPont. “Appropriate use of AI technology and data security are topics we cover in mandatory cybersecurity training for all municipal employees.”
DuPont also noted that as the town considers different AI technologies for municipal use, they carefully analyze the tools “to ensure that the value added will outweigh potential security risks and current or future costs.”
Jop confirmed that all AI use in Wellesley government will be compliant with state and federal privacy laws. “The type of data that can be imported into AI tools, that are not within a closed system, are limited,” said Jop.
In terms of how the use of AI will affect Wellesley residents’ interactions with the town, Dupont said that the technology will play a more behind-the-scenes role, with the exception of citizen-facing customer service tools like a website chatbot.
“Our hope is that AI technologies will be used to help our elected and appointed Town leaders make more informed decisions and create operational efficiencies,” said DuPont.
“Taxpayers ultimately have a say in the budget, but the tools selected would be at the discretion of the Town,” said Jop on how Wellesley residents play into the decision making surrounding AI use by the town.
This story was produced in partnership with the Boston University Department of Journalism.
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