Report

AI in local government: Adoption, benefits and challenges

This report from UK think tank City-REDI examines how artificial intelligence is being adopted in local government.

This report from the Local Policy Innovation Partnership provides a timely stocktake of how artificial intelligence is being adopted in local government, what benefits are beginning to emerge, and what barriers still limit wider deployment.

It draws on analysis of 101 published AI case studies and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, from local and central government, government agencies, academia, and private sector experts.

The report finds that maturity of usage varies significantly across councils, but that there is particularly strong emerging use of large language model (LLM) tools for tasks such as note-taking, transcription, drafting and translation, as well as use of chatbots both internally and on a customer-facing basis. Wider use cases across the sector include sensor-enabled systems, predictive analytics and some early robotics applications. Quantification of benefits is mixed, but strongest in terms of organisational efficiency improvements, as well as benefits for customers.

The report concludes that AI can deliver meaningful efficiency and service-quality gains, but that councils need stronger evidence, better capability, careful governance, and practical support from the wider sector and Government to adopt AI responsibly and at scale.