AI can help councils become more efficient and provide better services, cloud computing giant AWS says in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into local government sustainability.

The submission to the house of reps Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport says the federal government should support councils to adopt AI, and recommends the establishment of regional local government ICT centres of excellence dedicated to building capacity and skills across the sector.

It also calls for direct funding and targeted support grants to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies that result in a reduction in the cost of service delivery, improved productivity, and improved citizen experience.

“Our primary observation is that the financial sustainability of local government can be significantly advanced by investing in the adoption and use of safe and responsible emerging technologies, such as AI, that have the capacity to deliver operational efficiency to local governments,” Roger Somerville, Head of Public Policy, Australia and New Zealand at Amazon Web Services says.

“Given the resource constraints of dispersed local councils, the federal government could support deployment of ethical AI technology by funding regional or state-based AI resource centres focused on building capacity and skills within local governments.”

The submission describes several ways in which it says AI can help councils, including in asset management, planning and development,  community services, waste and environmental management, and emergency and disaster response.

AWS is pushing to get the public sector to embrace artificial intelligence as the generative AI race with its competitors Microsoft and Google intensifies.

 However, while the adoption of AI can create efficiencies in the public sector, experts have also warned of challenges around data privacy, security, ethical issues and difficulties integrating AI with legacy systems.

Globally, AWS serves 7,500 government agencies, according to company data, and it currently works with numerous Australian councils and local government associations.