AI Chatbot for a City District: Smart Communication Between Citizens and the Office

Interaction with Prague’s city administration, especially during significant life events, can be difficult for citizens. Many residents, including disadvantaged groups, struggled with communication, finding documents, and identifying the correct authority. The City of Prague (Prague 6) therefore sought an innovative digital solution to streamline communication and improve access to services. The answer was a user-friendly chatbot designed to serve as a mediator between citizens and offices. Its purpose is to provide direct assistance with inquiries related to life situations and ensure information is easily accessible to everyone. The goal was to improve the quality of life for Prague’s residents. See https://communicity-project.eu/prague-challenges/

A scalable AI chatbot solution was developed, allowing citizens to quickly and intuitively obtain information without having to navigate complex websites. The chatbot translates complicated “official language” into understandable human language. Its main goal is to provide direct assistance with inquiries related to life situations and ensure easy access to information. It also relieves officials from routine queries so they can focus on more complex tasks.

• Citizens

• Businesses

• Municipal officials, office staff, politicians

5

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) – specifically Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Cloud infrastructure on Microsoft Azure

• OpenAI models (with flexibility to switch)

• Web applications (Citymind)

• Data synchronization technology from municipal websites

Head of IT / Data / Technology

Joint implementation with the client

• Operations, maintenance, and ongoing updates handled by the supplier – Citymind

• Solution administration and monitoring handled by the client’s KITT6 team

• IT support

• Website content administrators (ensuring up-to-date data on the municipal website, which the chatbot uses — system automatically synchronizes web data)

No additional IT infrastructure required on the client’s side, operated on Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure

• Improved communication between the public and the office – chatbot translates complex “official language” into plain human language.

• Simplified citizen access to information.

• Relieved officials from routine queries, allowing them to focus on more complex and professional tasks.

• Provided valuable data for future service improvements (admin panel overviews, reporting).

• High level of user trust and approval.

• Confirmed easy replicability of the solution for other institutions.

• User satisfaction: 4.05 out of 5

• Threefold acceleration of processes

• 40% of conversations handled outside office hours

“In today’s market, there is a huge number of companies offering AI assistants for public administration. Choosing a high-quality, secure, and effective solution is not simple — often these are overpriced products without clear management, disregarding the specific needs of cities or GDPR. Thanks to participation in the CommuniCity project, we had the assurance of a professionally selected quality solution, fast deployment, and a transparent process. The result is a chatbot we are truly satisfied with — it simplifies life for both citizens and officials.” – Vladimír Šuvarina, Director of KITT 6

• User involvement: Co-creation with citizens and officials + thorough testing (25 people, 20 surveys, screen recordings).

• Strong collaboration: Partnership with KITT 6 and ICT operator ensured coordination and integration.

• Compliance: Focus on GDPR and web accessibility from the beginning.

• User design: Translation of “official language” into plain language.

• Compliance: GDPR documentation updates and drafting of Processing Terms – ensured through thorough documentation and legal collaboration.

• Data integration: Automatic synchronization of website data for up-to-date information.

• Involve users: Active engagement from the beginning (citizens, officials) is key to success.

• Bet on scalability: Look for solutions that can be easily replicated to other institutions.

• Use the data: Leverage chatbot data to improve services and website content.