By Joe McCann
ANYONE who has ever spent ages trying to get through to Ards and North Down Council may soon be talking to ‘Andy’, an AI-powered phone assistant being tested in a bid to handle thousands of routine enquiries.
The council is soon to begin a free trial of AI software to replace the humans currently manning the phone system at the local authority.
The trial will see the council employing Andy to assist those who call up with enquiries in the hope it will free up council employees from the burden of handling routine calls.
Andy will be trained to deal with queries on five areas, management such as planning, waste and building control, and will speak to callers and give them information to help with their enquiries.
However, council officers told politicians at a recent committee meeting that if a caller chooses, they can bypass
Andy entirely and speak directly to a human council employee. It is hoped that Andy would ‘remove about 50 per cent of the phone calls that come through the council’.
The trial is being provided by ICS.AI who claim to be the UK’s fastest growing private AI company, and claim they are transforming local government with ‘scalable, cost effective AI, trusted by over 20 councils’.
To begin the trial, the council will establish a test phone number and ask select groups to ring the number to test Andy and officers invited councillors to give it a go, asking it regular questions which their constituents might phone the council about.
Alderman Martin McRandal asked if the technology had been trialled elsewhere and said he was concerned that introducing it could cause havoc.
Council officers said that both Derby and Bristol Councils in England use the same software and said people could ring up their councils to see for themselves how it worked.
Alderman Stephen McIlveen queried whether Andy would be helpful and said there were currently deficiencies with the council’s own website, for example, around the ability for a resident to order more bins.
“From my dealings with constituents, one of the hardest people to reach is the waste department and they generally do need to speak to someone because it will be about missed collections or damaged bins or wanting to order a bin,” he said.
Mr McIlveen was told by officers that staff had been working on a new ‘bin widget’ online to help report missed bins that would hopefully solve this problem.
Councillor David Chambers asked how much it would cost ratepayers if the council decides to employ Andy.
“If the trial proves to be successful and we were to do this full time, what would the cost be to the council?”
Council officers refused to say what the cost would be other than it would be a ‘big money project’ that would require a business case.
Officers added that any costs involved would inevitably be brought back to the council and be included within the business case.
