Sunshine Coast Council deploys AI avatar for customer service

The Sunshine Coast Council is testing artificial intelligent (AI) avatar technology to support existing council services.

The system is part of a three-month trial, supported by Invest Sunshine Coast’s Testing Tech in Paradise program, encouraging organisations to trial innovative new technologies in Maroochydore City Centre.

The avatar, Laura, is a computer-generated image, using the latest gaming and AI technology, which is there to provide answers to frequently asked questions based on general council information available on the council’s website.

The kiosk’s motion sensor detects when someone is nearby, enabling Laura to start a conversation. She listens through a microphone, uses advanced ChatGPT to understand what’s being said, and responds with lifelike speech and facial expressions.

Laura is programmed to answer general council enquiries only, such as damaged bins, bin collection days, council office locations, registering dogs and cats, libraries, and reporting maintenance issues.

She does not have access to council’s customer records and therefore cannot assist with personal enquiries, or provide updates on service requests.