ChatGPT: The solution for improving customer service for local governments?

ChatGPT: an innovation strategy? 

In my work as a consultant at Shift2, I often visit local governments and regularly speak with webmasters or communications officers. I have noticed that AI is not yet part of local governments' innovation strategies, but in my opinion, it should be!

My assessment is that AI language models will soon play an important role in improving government services.

What is ChatGPT?

Technical solutions are often a tool, and the latest development in this area can be summarized under AI. Specifically in this blog, I focus on AI based on language models, such as chatbots and, since 2022, the more mainstream term for this, ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is an advanced chatbot system that can help improve customer service efficiency, reduce costs, and increase citizen satisfaction. In this blog, we discuss these benefits as well as the potential risks of ChatGPT.

ChatGPT is a chatbot system developed by OpenAI (www.openai.com) that uses advanced machine learning algorithms to understand and process natural language. We also refer to this as a language model. Because it uses this language model, the chatbot can communicate with customers in a natural and effective way, without human intervention.

There are also other language models in circulation that may also be suitable for setting up a chatbot for the municipality. In this blog, I will focus on ChatGPT, because Microsoft invested $10 billion in OpenAI last year and integrations into the o365 suite are in full swing. In other words, ChatGPT will soon be just another feature in our daily work, just like using the internet. 

What can language models such as ChatGPT offer a local government?

Efficiency

ChatGPT can improve customer service efficiency by being available 24/7 and responding immediately to multiple queries. This reduces waiting times for citizens and the workload of human operators. As a result, they can focus on more complex tasks, such as actually talking to people on the phone.

Cost savings

The efficiency of ChatGPT can also lead to significant cost savings for local governments. By reducing the workload of human operators, these employees can focus on more complex tasks and savings can be made on the costs of additional staff.

Citizen satisfaction

ChatGPT can increase citizen satisfaction by providing fast, effective, and friendly customer service. By offering citizens positive experiences, local governments can gain their trust and support.

More options for webmasters

Webmasters can use ChatGPT to create better content and provide interactive and user-friendly customer service. This can improve the user experience of the website and contribute to the overall professionalism of the organization. ChatGPT can be used to create a draft for content, which can then be further supplemented or modified by the webmaster.

What are the risks?

This all sounds great, of course, but it is still a young technology. This currently entails some risks for formal institutions such as local governments.

For example, it can lead to reduced human interaction and the loss of the personal aspect of customer service. In addition, incorrect information may be provided if ChatGPT does not correctly understand the intent of the question.

Some examples of providing incorrect information may include:

1. Lack of context and topicality

If ChatGPT receives a question without sufficient context, the answer may be incorrect or misleading. For example, if a citizen asks, "Can I apply for a visa for my trip to Spain?" ChatGPT may respond with, "Yes, you can do so through the Spanish embassy." However, if the citizen is a citizen of an EU country, ChatGPT would be providing incorrect information because citizens of EU countries do not need a visa to travel to Spain.

At present, the language model has been trained up to 2021, which means that no current information can be used.

2. Misinterpretation of language and grammar

ChatGPT can sometimes struggle to understand the language and grammar of a question, which can lead to incorrect answers. For example, if a citizen asks, "What are the rules for parking a car on the street?", ChatGPT may interpret "You are not allowed to park a car on the sidewalk" as an answer to the question, when that is not the correct answer.

3. Sensitivity to prejudice and discrimination

ChatGPT can sometimes reflect bias and discrimination, especially if the answers depend on the data used to train the system. This can lead to inappropriate or offensive responses.

4. SEO penalties

If you copy ChatGPT text verbatim, you run the risk of receiving penalty points from search engines. It is wise to always supplement the text with your own text. Or to adjust the sentence structure if you want to use the text on a web page.

5. Technical issues

OpenAI's servers are often overloaded. Because millions of people around the world are querying the servers at the same time, they are sometimes unavailable for a while and you have to wait until things calm down. Incidentally, this only applies to free accounts. You can bypass the queue by taking out a paid account, but we have yet to see what the implications of licenses are for service options.

6. Under development

Language models, and ChatGPT in particular, are developing rapidly. This leads to continuous improvement, but also to risks in the content it helps to create or control.

Will there soon be no more webmasters or communications specialists working for local government?

Some people are afraid that they will lose their jobs due to the rise of AI. That is a possibility, but it also creates new jobs. People were also afraid that computers and robots would take over their work. That has happened to some extent, but the people who used to work on the production line have since moved on to other, less monotonous work.