ATHENS, Ohio — The City of Athens unveiled a new online, artificial intelligence-powered chatbot modeled after the iconic Athens bricks, providing a new way for residents to access important city information.
The chatbot, named “Benny the Athens Brick,” is intended to help browsers on the City of Athens website’s main page quickly access information and get answers to questions regarding the city, its government, events and more as it learns.
“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?’” City of Athens Mayor Steve Patterson demonstrated at his major weekly update meeting. “You just ask Benny the Brick a question, and Benny will answer you.”
Patterson said the chatbot isn’t perfect yet, as it is still combing through years of city ordinances and information.
“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,” Patterson 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.”
According to a public service announcement for the chatbot, Benny the Brick is intended to “help Athens stay connected one question at a time.”
“For local governments, chatbots create exciting opportunities to improve customer service, automate tasks and cut costs,” according to an article Senior Policy Fellow and Assistant Director of Bloustein Local Government Research Center of Rutgers University Marc Pfeiffer. “Residents routinely need information on topics like garbage collection, parking permits, construction projects and event schedules. Chatbots can provide 24/7 automated self-service for these frequent citizen inquiries.”