Chandler exploring AI use in city government functions

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

Chandler staff are already using artificial intelligence for some important city functions, one staff member told the city council during a work session.

Kerstin Nold, chief technology officer for the city, said 196 Chandler employees are using AI as part of their daily routines.

“One of the things our steering committee will be coming up with, as part of our use case, is really coming up with KPIs (key performance indicators),” Nold told the council during the April 20 work session. “At that level, AI is so broad, it’s going to be really hard. Every use case is going to need to have KPIs and performance metrics.”

Not all of the plans and recaps in Nold’s and in Information Technology Director Sandip Dholakia's presentations used jargon or technical or business terms. But they both described how AI is being woven into the culture of local government.

Nold also talked about city plans not only to measure the effectiveness of AI, but how humans and AI will teach each other how to run a city more efficiently and productively.

A use case, Nold explained, is the documenting of AI justifying itself, as guided by Nold and other staff. She and others will show how applications of AI will solve specific city business problems or improve operations.

Nold said in some city functions, AI is being used to improve customer service, while in others it’s providing decision makers, such as police shift command, more real-time data.

She mentioned customer service chatbots as one way AI allows front-facing staff to get to more calls as one of the ways the technology has been part of municipalities for at least few years.

Nold said another example of how Chandler’s using AI is in short-term rentals monitoring. She said automated compliance tracking is being done across multiple platforms, with both state and city ordinances programmed in.

Cybersecurity threat detection is also being done more effectively using AI, Dholakia explained. Rather than setting up firewalls or a net, the technology can be used to patrol a network or an organization’s digital world, looking for threats and reporting findings to humans.

Nold said taking the fear out of using AI can be done using experiences people have already had with technology.

“Anyone who’s used Google Maps or Apple Maps this week has used AI,” Nold said. “And has probably been using it for a while.”

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

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Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.