City’s 311 service to roll out AI chatbot in spring pilot

By: Malak Abas Posted: 4:35 PM CST Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025

Winnipeg’s 311 service will introduce a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence to answer resident concerns as part of a pilot project this spring.

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Winnipeg’s 311 service will introduce a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence to answer resident concerns as part of a pilot project this spring.

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This article was published 21/01/2025 (277 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s 311 service will introduce a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence to answer resident concerns as part of a pilot project this spring.

The city’s innovation and technology department is in the “early stages” of an AI chatbot that will be available on the City of Winnipeg website and will be able to direct visitors to information and answer questions.

A late spring rollout is expected, but the department will have to confirm the service works smoothly first, customer services and communications director Felicia Wiltshire told the city’s executive policy committee Tuesday.

“I want to make sure that whatever product we’re releasing in terms of a chat is well-functioning,” she said.

“I think we’ve done a lot of good work to try to improve the reputation of 311, and I don’t want to risk launching a chat system that doesn’t maybe quite work effectively and drives people back to the phones anyway.”

Average wait times for calls to 311 have dropped in the past year — from more than 11 minutes in 2022, to five minutes in 2023, to one minute and 43 seconds in 2024. An additional $1.25 million in funding to 311 was included in the 2024 budget to address wait times.

The city is planning to phase out its 311 email service, but there isn’t a target date set as a high number of email requests are still coming in, Wiltshire said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said any use of AI being presented to Winnipeggers would only come after ensuring the product could be used safely and while protecting people’s personal information.

“(We) want to use the tools, the new technology, in a good way where it can enhance the delivery of city services, but we have to be aware of and mitigate against any risks they present,” he said.

There are 98 full-time employees in 311’s contact centre. There were 578,273 requests to 311 in 2022, 797,605 in 2023, and 863,584 in 2024. The city’s 2025 budget allotted $6.8 million to the service.

Winnipeggers can contact 311 by phone, email, on the city’s website or on social media.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

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Malak Abas
Reporter