AI at Council

How Hutt City Council is Using AI to Work Smarter

Why we’re using AI

At Hutt City Council, we’re always looking for ways to further serve our community. Since November 2024, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped Council work smarter to enhance what we deliver for Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt.

We believe AI can bring positive, transformational change, making our work more effective and our services more efficient. By adopting AI responsibly and ethically, we’re aiming to lead the way in local government here in Aotearoa and across Australasia.

What we’ve achieved so far

Hutt City Council’s approach to AI is rooted in Tika (doing what’s right and fair) and Pono (honesty and transparency). These principles guide us to use AI ethically, respect community values, and stay accountable.

Before rolling out AI tools, we took some key steps to make sure we used AI in a responsible way that suited our needs and delivered real value.

We created an AI Strategy and AI Policy These guide everything we do with AI, ensuring we meet legal, ethical, and community standards.

We began by testing tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot with a small group of 20 staff, called our ‘AI Navigators’. In some roles, they saved over an hour a day.

We have rolled out 162 secure AI licences supporting a range of tasks that improve productivity and service delivery

We then custom-built tools we call ‘AI Assistants’ where we found opportunities for routine tasks to become more efficient, freeing up staff to focus on complex work. We continue to find new purposes for AI Assistants

We’ve started seeing results of our AI use, including time savings and faster delivery of work. For example, AI helped us crunch data from our City Summit, turning handwritten submissions into a detailed report in just two days - a job that could have taken weeks.

Responsible AI use

We know the use of AI carries risk. To ensure our staff are using AI in a responsible and ethical manner when undertaking day-to-day work, Council has established systems to guide its use.

This includes developing an AI Risk Management Framework, robust training for all new members of staff and the establishment of an internal AI Governance Group to oversee and steward responsible AI use at Council.

Where we’re using AI

At Hutt City Council, we are committed to transparency, accountability, and public trust.

By sharing where we’re using AI, we aim to build trust and keep our community informed about how AI supports our mahi while delivering better outcomes for the people of Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai.

We maintain a public AI Register to document AI use cases across the organisation, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective risk management. This helps us track how AI is being used, assess potential risks, and implement appropriate safeguards.

Anywhere we use AI, we always have a staff member involved in checking and amending the AI outputs. When something is generated by AI entirely, we let you know.

We have licences for ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot

 

Customer AI Assistants in ChatGPT 

 

Assistant name

Function 

 

HCC Meeting Minute Drafting AI Assistant

Transforming transcriptions of Council and Council Committee meetings into minutes

 

HCC Project Status Brief AI Assistant

Generates project status briefs

 

HCC Project Brief AI Assistant

Generates project briefs

 

HCC Project Initiation Document AI Assistant

Generates draft Project Initiation Documents

 

HCC C&E Plan AI Assistant

Drafts Communications and Engagement Plans

 

HCC FAQ Drafting AI Assistant

Drafts FAQs based on written content provided

 

HCC Social Media Post Drafter

Generates content for Council's different social media profiles

 

HCC Consultation Analysis AI Assistant (incomplete)

Analyses text responses in surveys and generates themes

 

HCC Memo/Report Peer Review AI Assistant

Peer reviews draft memos for decision makers

 

Traffic Management Plan Review AI Assistant

Assists officers to review traffic management plans

 

Job Description/Job Advert Drafting AI Assistant

Generates draft content for job descriptions and job adverts

Informal AI Assistants

 

Internal Communications AI Assistant

Helps users to draft interncal communications content

 

Workshop Planning AI Assistant

Helps users to generate the first draft of a workshop agenda