WILKES-BARRE, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a useful technology, and one local county has taken an interest in AI as a way to boost the efficiency and distribution of public services.
They're calling it "Next-Gen Luzerne County," a pilot program that county officials say they hope will help county employees better serve their constituents.
AI is seeping into just about everything, and now, it could be a new tool used in local government.
"They are going to be blown away by how much time they can save," said First Assistant Solicitor and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer for Luzerne County, Vito DeLuca.
DeLuca says as far as he knows, it's the first in the state to implement AI into county operations.
While the program is still in development, DeLuca says he's working with potential partners like OpenAI and Microsoft to find which model will best fit the county's needs.
"Right now, the departments are identifying individuals within their departments who they think would like to participate in the program," DeLuca explained.
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DeLuca tells 28/22 News that these individuals will be trained on the system to identify areas where AI could help reduce menial tasks and provide feedback to understand its effectiveness.
"It's not a matter of having these solutions do our jobs for us or do the employees' jobs for them. It's a matter of making them work more efficiently and allow them to do those tasks that do require greater attention," DeLuca continued.
The Shapiro administration launched a similar program for state employees in January of 2024.
They reported earlier this year that the "first-in-the-nation" program led to an average time savings of 95 minutes per day for tasks like writing, research, summarization, and IT support.
Despite its usefulness, AI does have its limitations.
DeLuca stresses the program does not replace human oversight or judgment, but rather, acts as a tool.
He stresses that ethics and data security are a top priority.
"We don't plan to hand over the keys to robots to take over Luzerne County. We're merely looking at giving our employees a brilliant navigator to assist them," DeLuca stated.
DeLuca tells 28/22 News they should have a partner and cost worked out in the next month, and that he expects the program to save the county money long term.
