City court officials in Austin used to spend a lot of time answering rote questions related to parking tickets, court dates and other issues.

Then about two years ago, the city began using a chatbot to field these requests. The move made life easier not only for workers in the court system, but also residents.

“They had a challenge with individuals coming down, asking questions about paying tickets,” explained Austin CIO Stephen Elkins during a panel discussion last week at the Smart Cities Connect Conference in Denver.

“And so, what the court basically was finding was that they had a long line of individuals — some folks had questions about tickets, some had other questions. By pulling out the ticketing questions, they shortened the queue. There was a better experience with the residents as well as the employees,” Elkins added.

The discussion, titled “The Role of AI in the Rise of Smart Cities,” explored how artificial intelligence is being deployed across a number of communities, its ideal applications and cautionary warnings officials should keep in mind when considering the emerging technology.

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