LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Earlier this year, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. announced that artificial intelligence would soon be used in the city.
During his State of the City address back in February, the mayor did not go in-depth with what artificial intelligence (AI) would look like for the people of Little Rock.
Now, we're taking a look at his plan.
The world of Hollywood has made AI one of its newest superheroes, or possibly villains, like in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning.
However, Little Rock's Chief Data Officer, Marquis Willis, explained how it's not like the movies.
"When I say it's as good as it's programmer it means the individual doing the programming. Who's doing the coding, sometimes intentionally or unintentionally creates errors in the code that create biases," Willis described.
The City of Little Rock is beginning to implement AI with the goal of achieving two goals: efficiency for operations and engagement from the community.
"Artificial intelligence is something as simple as using a chat feature on your phone or using text-to-talk options and things of that nature," said Willis.
In fact, the city has already been using AI as LRPD's real-time crime center has the technology.
The police department has license plate readers. When they are tracking a suspect they can use cameras in the city to follow them. Artificial intelligence can pick up the plate throughout the area, and then let officers know certain areas where they could search for the individual.
Willis said the city currently has an internal task force looking at resources and an action plan for future AI usage.
This includes access for multi-lingual families at public meetings or 24/7 help on the city's website.
"A real-time chatbot feature, so that our residents could go in, put in their questions, and get real answers in real-time," said Willis.
While these are still ideas on the chalkboard Willis said it takes money to make it happen. While there's no timeline for when the city could implement more AI technology, it is something they have been actively working on.