GUYSBOROUGH — The Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) has taken its first steps toward understanding the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in local government.
On Sept. 9, MODG staff participated in an AI training session designed to build awareness about how the rapidly developing technology could impact municipal operations. The initiative was first noted during the municipality’s Sept. 3 committee of the whole meeting, when Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Andrews confirmed plans to deliver the training.
Andrews said the municipality recognized that AI is becoming more intertwined with daily life, including how public services are delivered. “As artificial intelligence becomes intertwined with our day-to-day lives and operations, it was felt that staff should become more familiar with what it can do for our operations to improve service delivery, creation of efficiencies, and the necessity to create policies around its use,” he told The Journal last week.
According to Andrews, the Sept. 9 session marked the first time MODG had offered staff a dedicated AI training program. The session introduced potential benefits of the technology, such as streamlining administrative processes, supporting data analysis and assisting with grant writing.
But the training also focused on the risks.
“Staff were engaged in discussions with our facilitator around risks such as accuracy and privacy,” Andrews said. “Further to that is to know what AI isn’t and how it can be misused to create false narratives and is changing how we must validate what we are seeing and hearing.”
For Andrews, striking a balance between opportunity and caution is critical.
“AI has real potential in customer service, grant writing, and data analysis to name a few,” he said, “but we must remain cautious and make sure human judgment stays at the centre of our work by maintaining the ‘human in the loop’ approach.”
Warden Paul Long said the training was timely, noting that AI has become a topic of discussion across every level of government.
“The AI discussion is one that is being held at all levels of government and council members have had opportunities at both provincial and national conferences to hear about the possibilities of AI,” Long told The Journal.
While the municipality has not yet announced specific plans for how it might use AI in its day-to-day operations, it said the training is intended to help staff understand both the potential and the pitfalls before making any decisions.
Andrews emphasized that keeping human judgment central to municipal decision-making will remain a priority. The “human in the loop” approach he described refers to ensuring that AI systems, if adopted, are always overseen and guided by people, not left to make decisions on their own.
As MODG’s leadership weighs how to adapt to AI, they see training and awareness as the first step.
“It’s a great topic to explore and training helps make everyone aware of the good and the bad sides of this trend in our world,” Long said.
