AI used to fill 100 vacant jobs and save Derby City Council £12 million
The Labour-led council’s use of public facing digital assistants has been met with controversy over the years
Derby City Council says artificial intelligence has helped save at least £12 million and fill 100 vacant jobs.
The council’s chief executive confirmed AI was used to remove those posts from the budget, with no redundancy costs.
But council leaders have been warned AI is “not the answer” to everything and it can’t replace the need for human interaction.
The council’s chief executive Paul Simpson confirmed at a budget scrutiny meeting on Monday (January 12) that use of AI “took out of the budget 100 posts that at the time were vacant”.
He added plans for AI to save the council £12 million “has been delivered”.
The meeting also heard that AI was helping more residents with council queries when calling on the phone – easing pressure on staff.
It was claimed last year that the council’s innovative use of AI “saved it from bankruptcy” at a time when local authorities face significant financial struggles..
However, the Labour-led council’s use of public facing digital assistants Darcie and Ali has been met with controversy over the years.
Darcie is used to handle general council enquiries on the phone or online and Ali is used for queries specifically from Derby Homes (council housing) tenants.
Councillors previously told meetings they had received complaints from residents who said they were struggling to get through to the council via the AI assistants.
And last year it was heard at a meeting that the digital assistant had difficulty understanding Derbyshire dialect when people were dialling for help.
But Councillor Hardyal Dhindsa, cabinet member for digital transformation, said at the time Darcie and Ali were improving to help residents.
Both Mr Simpson and Councillor Dhindsa said the council was “far and away” leading the way with its use of AI and other councils were taking notice.
The chief executive said the council’s own version of ChatGPT saved the council from filling 100 roles which at the time were vacant.
He said: “On the back of analysis, we determined that we could safely take out of the budget 100 posts that at that time were vacant. Therefore, there were no HR implications or redundancy costs or anything else. That saving has been realised.
“The £12m (saving) has been delivered. We now have an extra opportunity to save more through AI and that’s what we are now exploring”
Cllr Dhindsa told the executive scrutiny board that “56 per cent of communication and enquiries by telephone are dealt with by Darcie”.
But this prompted a warning from Cllr Matthew Holmes who said AI was not the best solution for everything the council does.
Mr Holmes, chair of the executive scrutiny board, said: “The reason why it doesn’t work sometimes – if you look at Darcie, and I know there’s been a lot of criticism especially for elderly residents – they want to speak to someone from the council.
“AI is not always the answer in that case. In some cases it can provide straightforward advice and formulistic replies. But we should not lose sight that we are an organisation providing front line services to the city – it does not replace a human to speak to someone. Just bear that in mind.”
Mr Dhindsa said: “It is important to know that at the moment 56 per cent of communication and enquiries by telephone are dealt with by Darcie. That is a massive saving on demand and pressure on our workforce. It has become more intuitive.
“We are the first local authority in the country to use AI in a way to provide better services. We’ve actually been able to enhance our services.
“We can’t be complacent, AI is going to be with not just us an organisation but every organisation and we need to continue.”