Nick Price said the technology was great but could make mistakes and warned local authorities it could impact on people’s lives.
Worcestershire County Council’s Business and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee heard an update on the authority’s use of AI at a meeting in Pershore on Monday (March 23).
Joe Hilditch, head of digital, data and web services, said Microsoft Copilot, a generative AI platform, is routinely used for tasks such as “report creation, meeting summaries”.
He said staff across the authority had access to the basic version of Copilot, and 50 premium licenses were purchased for £13,500.
She said Copilot could potentially save 30 minutes per meeting “at a very low estimate,” and while it “won’t immediately reduce staffing,” AI “could mean we don’t have to hire people, and we could work with smaller teams when people leave.”
Commissioner Price said: “I think we need to be cautious with AI because it can get things wrong.
“And when we’re in local government, we’re dealing with highly sensitive information. It can impact people’s lives.”
“AI is great, but so is automation. The two work in synergy, so we need to work on the two in tandem.”
He said AI is good at “doing the heavy lifting: helping people make informed decisions.”
Environment director Ian Cresswell said he uses AI in his professional life, calling it a “game changer to the way we work”.
IT director Geoff Hedges said the council was not using AI to filter job applications.
City councilors had expressed concerns that AI would discriminate against young, inexperienced people.
Panel chair Seb James asked whether the council was moving quickly enough.
Cllr Price said: “We are looking at initiatives in other local authorities and if they work, with some tweaking they could work in Worcestershire as well.”
But, he added, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
