By Pepper Parr
February 12th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The future just landed.
CoBy, Burlington’s first AI-powered digital assistant – it can be found on the City’s website, burlington.ca.
This customer service enhancement provides 24/7 access to a wealth of city information and services. With a simple click, residents, businesses, and visitors can pose questions and receive real-time, AI-generated responses, based on the extensive knowledge gathered from burlington.ca.
CoBy is not just a digital assistant, it is an ever-evolving digital entity, designed to learn, adapt, and improve from every interaction, ensuring an enriched user experience.
The City of Burlington is one of the first municipalities in Canada to launch a generative AI digital assistant, created with Microsoft Copilot.
That green image in the lower right hand corner is where CoBy sits waiting for you. Have fun – the folks at City Hall are absolutely giddy about this one – they are waiting to see just how many people use the thing. Our first question didn’t have an answer – but it will get better over time.
How CoBy works
Web users will find a green conversation bubble icon in the bottom right-hand corner of every web page on burlington.ca. Users can click the icon and enter a question for CoBy about the city. The digital assistant then uses Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) technology to quickly and efficiently provide the information requested.
The new digital assistant is currently in the beta phase of development, ready for testing.
CoBy will continue to develop over time, influenced by the customer requests it receives, patterns learned through generative AI, and the addition of new data sources on the City’s website and beyond. Users can provide feedback on their experience with CoBy at getinvolvedburlington.ca/digitaltransformation.
After asking it silly questions, one of which was the Mayors hat size,(which it didn’t know?) it really was more efficient at answering the more mundane things I need to find out before I give up and just guess, that after wasting two lifetimes trying to find the answer on their dreaded website and adding to the the pile of thrown I-pads against the wall.
Odd. I got extremely accurate answers. When I asked ‘who is Chad MacDonald?’, CoBy replied “He is my God, my Creator”. And when I asked ‘Who is the Mayor’?, CoBy answered in quavering voice “She who can not be named, but the Red Queen is in all places and her image is everywhere”. I thought, what a brilliant use of tax payer funds. Damn though, I forgot to ask ‘What is the real cost of the Bateman buy’. Opportunity missed.
When I tried It kept saying “What are you doing Dave” should I be concerned?
CoBy: Hello! I’m CoBy, an AI-powered digital assistant for the City of Burlington. I can answer questions you have about our city. How can I help you today?
JG: where can i find the orgnaization chart
A. You can find the organization chart of the City of Burlington on their website. The City Council has approved a new organizational design, and you can view the chart on their website.
https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/city-council-approves-new-organizational-design.aspx
JG. there is no chart in that link
CoBy: Oh, it seems like there’s a missing chart in the link you provided. Let me help you with that! Could you please provide more details about the chart you’re looking for? I’ll do my best to assist you in finding the information you need.
J.G: I am looking for the City of Burlington Organization Chart
CoBy: You can find the Organization Chart for the City of Burlington on the City of Burlington’s website. Here is the link to the page:
J.G. CoBy provided the same link 2x and no chart was found, because, it either does not exist, CoBy cannot find it, or COB does not want us to see it.
Thanks CoBy
Just curious, but will this AI thing bring about a reduction in perhaps unnecessary staff?….seeing it might do almost anything…I’m teasing a bit here…. I think the I know what the answer will be.
I asked CoBy “where can I get a replacement recycling bin?” and the answer came back within seconds: “the Halton Waste Management site”. So I rebutted “is there anywhere that is not a 50 km round trip?” and got the answer “I cannot find that information on the Burlington information base.” Fair enough, but perhaps I should have asked “Is it good service to require a taxpayer to make a 50 KM trip to replace a bin destroyed by city workers?” and see if it would be a good conversationalist rather than a better search engine.