The Massachusetts AI Hub’s Oct. 16 update reminds us that residents can take free AI courses. That may help public and private employees write faster. But speed should not become the main test for public information.
A Plymouth resident asking about a permit, town meeting procedure, or public benefit needs a correct answer with a source. An AI-generated paragraph can sound certain even when it describes an outdated ordinance or omits an exception. If such tools enter government workflows, residents should know who checks the resulting guidance and how to correct mistakes.
Plymouth has already seen why access to trustworthy information matters in debates over municipal transparency and communications. A sensible policy would require staff to verify legal or procedural answers against official records, correct consequential errors publicly, and preserve a straightforward route to a human decisionmaker.
A municipality can measure whether AI reduces processing time. It should measure corrections and complaints as well. Residents deserve reliable service regardless of the software used to produce a draft.
– Gleb Tsipursky
Dr. Tsipursky is a behavioral scientist, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts, and author of The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results.