How AI Could Change The Way Councils Operate

Monday, 7 April 2025, 7:01 pm
Article: David Hill - Local Democracy Reporter

As councils grapple with the risks and benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a Canterbury regional councillor has asked whether it could actually replace politicians.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) deputy chairperson Deon Swiggs says AI and advancing technology raises many opportunities, as well as risks.

‘‘I have a very real question - in the future will we need politicians?’’

Councillors voted to establish an AI working group at a council meeting last week, after staff presented a report in response to a motion from Cr Joe Davies.

Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, Cr Swiggs echoed the thoughts of Cr Davies in suggesting that with advancing technology, people could vote on how rates are spent on a phone app.

AI could then collate the data and make a decision in real time.

‘‘It is pie in sky stuff,’’ Cr Swiggs admitted.

‘‘It is scary, but I also see opportunities for making better decisions.’’

Cr Swiggs said in future Canterbury could have its own satellites monitoring the region and providing data on river levels and environmental risks in real time to help with decision making.

‘‘People talk about ‘big brother watching us’, but I like to bring it back to making good decisions.’’

The AI working group will be chaired by Cr Davies and comprise Cr Swiggs, Nick Ward, Claire McKay and Tutehounuku Korako.

Cr McKay said new technology can be ‘‘scary’’, but the council needed to keep ahead of the changes.

‘‘New stuff coming along can be quite scary, so there is a tendency to ignore it and hope it will go away.

‘‘But AI isn’t going to go away.’’

She said most people will already be using AI, even if they don’t realise it, through their email inboxes and internet searches.

ECan was already using new planning software which uses AI to help navigate the complexity and speed up the consenting process.

Cr Davies said he believed it was the first working group of councillors established to look into AI.

The new working group will have up to four forums a year which will be open to the public and livestreamed on YouTube.

Forum topics are likely to include public transport, democracy, and resource management and biosecurity.

‘‘All of those streams of government are going to change with technology,’’ Cr Davies said.

‘‘If you do a thought experiment, you can imagine what sort of information is going into these areas and how it might be analysed with AI.’’

In the future buses could be fully automated, while the new national ticketing system when introduced will see bus users tapping on and off with their cards.

It means ECan will be able to collect data of where people are going and how long they are on the bus, which will help with planning.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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