The City of Athens has introduced a new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, “Benny the Athens Brick,” to assist residents in finding city information online. The tool is accessible from the main page of the City of Athens website and aims to answer questions about local government, events, and services.
Mayor Steve Patterson demonstrated the chatbot during his weekly update meeting. He explained that Benny can respond to questions such as when city council meetings are scheduled, how to pay utility bills, or what days trash collection occurs. “Our chatbot, Benny the Brick, is available 24/7 to answer questions that you may have, including, ‘When is our next city council meeting? How do I pay my utility bill? Or, what days of the week is trash collection going on?’” Patterson said. “You just ask Benny the Brick a question, and Benny will answer you.”
Patterson noted that while Benny is still developing its knowledge base by reviewing years of city ordinances and information, it may not yet have all answers immediately available. “Benny is still learning, combing through our city website and all the information that’s in there to include city code. Benny may not have the answer [to some questions] because it hasn’t searched that far into things. But you know, Benny is young, and Benny is just learning,” he said. “This is pretty interesting stuff as we migrate more and more into the AI space. It’s great that we’re continuing to move into the AI world, especially when it comes to access to information and direction.”
A public service announcement for the chatbot describes its purpose as helping Athens stay connected one question at a time.
Marc Pfeiffer, Senior Policy Fellow and Assistant Director of Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University, commented on how chatbots can benefit local governments: “For local governments, chatbots create exciting opportunities to improve customer service, automate tasks and cut costs,” Pfeiffer stated. He added that these tools can provide around-the-clock automated self-service for common resident inquiries about topics like garbage collection or event schedules.
