As AI changes how residents access information, councils must ensure everyone has the support and confidence to engage.
Much conversation around AI in local government has focused on internal use.
But strong organisations do not look only inward. They also pay attention to the people and communities they serve.
As AI becomes more embedded, residents are gaining new ways to access, interpret and interact with information. That has implications for how councils communicate, how services respond to enquiries, and how organisations build trust in an increasingly complex information environment.
A changing information environment
Finding and understanding policy and service information has until more recently required a degree of persistence. Even with the best will from service and communications teams, residents may have needed to navigate multiple authorities, search policy documents, interpret technical language, or piece together information from different sources to find solutions to their particular set of circumstances.
Today, generative AI tools can help people do much of that work more quickly.
Residents can now:
Summarise lengthy reports in seconds.
Compare information from multiple sources.
Draft correspondence, complaints and enquiries.
Prepare planning objections or consultation responses.
Formulate Freedom of Information requests.
Research council services and responsibilities.
Generate questions they may not otherwise have considered.
As access to information becomes easier, expectations may change; residents may arrive better informed, they may ask more detailed questions, they may also submit more complex enquiries, complaints or requests than organisations have traditionally experienced.
A recent report, shared by London Centric, suggests that ChatGPT has been downloading copies of public documents from a number of London Councils, the assumption being that this is being done in response to an increase in the number of Local Government questions the AI tool is being asked by users
For councils, this is not necessarily a problem to be solved. In many ways, it represents a positive opportunity.
Well-informed residents are often better placed to engage in consultations, participate in decision-making and access the services they need.
However, it may require organisations to think differently about their ability to respond at pace and at scale.
Is your information ready?
If AI tools are helping residents find and interpret information, councils may also need to pay greater attention to how that information is presented in the first place.
AI tools can help people access information, but they can also introduce errors, misunderstand context or present information with misplaced confidence.
That means councils cannot assume that every query arriving from a resident is based on accurate information.
Unlike the resident, who is not obliged to check the accuracy of the output of the AI tool they used, Council Officers do need to check the validity and accuracy of the information provided and the subsequent response.
Organisations may increasingly need greater capability and capacity to validate assumptions, clarify misunderstandings and correct inaccuracies while maintaining trust and transparency.
The opportunity and the divide
While AI may help some residents access information more easily, it may not benefit everyone equally. For some people, these tools could act as a leveller, helping them navigate services, understand communications and engage more confidently with local government. For others, barriers relating to access, affordability, skills, literacy or confidence may mean they benefit far less.
This creates a familiar challenge in a new context.
As some residents become increasingly digitally enabled, organisations must remain alert to the risk of widening inequalities for those who are digitally excluded.
Inclusion remains central to service design, communications and engagement approaches.
Looking beyond AI
Perhaps the most important point is not about technology. It is about people – how they access information, form expectations and engage with public services. And how public bodies adapt to meet those changing needs.
The organisations best placed for the future are likely to be those that recognise that AI is changing both sides of the conversation. Not only how councils work, but how residents interact with them.