The city of Kelowna could become the first municipality in British Columbia to use artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite housing permit approvals, according to staff.
Ryan Smith, director of planning and development services for the Central Okanagan Municipality, said the city used a $350,000 grant it received from the state government. Local Government Development Approval Program Work with Microsoft to develop an AI chatbot that automates permit applications and answers applicants’ questions about the city’s zoning bylaws and official community planning.
Smith expects the automated system, due to be introduced this fall, will save a lot of time for frontline city workers.
“Twenty years ago, I was a young man working at the front counter at City Hall. Not that I know. Get me wrong,” Smith told CBC host Chris Walker Daybreak South.
“For some of our frontline staff, if we could save 20, 30, or 40% of the time answering the same question, [it] It also improves consistency so it can be redeployed to higher value tasks. ”
Announced in September 2021, the City Department’s Development Approval Program has provided approximately $15 million to 43 municipalities across the state to help develop innovative ways to streamline the housing approval process.
Daybreak South7:54The City of Kelowna says it is developing a virtual tool that can quickly track housing permits.
The City of Kelowna says it is developing a virtual tool that can quickly track housing permits.
City Says Chatbots Won’t Replace Staff
Kelowna is part of a trend of municipalities across Canada using AI in their operations.
For example, in London, Ontario, in 2020, the city’s information technology and homelessness prevention departments will work together to build a Chronic Homeless Artificial Intelligence (CHAI) model to determine whether people are likely to seek shelter services or I predicted whether I might lead a rough life in Long-term basis for the next 6 months.
Matt Ross, manager of artificial intelligence and information technology in London, said the model boasts an accuracy rating of 93%.
“It’s a pretty strong model,” Ross said. “We are currently doing a literature review of other cities trying to approach the problem with machine learning, and this accuracy is, to our knowledge, the best in the world.”
Smith said the city of Kelowna will begin testing the chatbot in the summer.
He stressed that technology will not replace frontline staff, and the city still needs humans to monitor its performance, making it the fastest growing region in Canada according to the Census. Because there is a lot of planning and development work to be done in Central Okanagan, which is data.
“I can say fairly safely that staff should not feel insecure about their position. There is always work for them to do,” he said.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia has notified the City of Kelowna of the standards it must follow to protect the privacy of building permit applicants, Smith said.
