The artificial intelligence boom is coming to Coral Springs.
City commissioners are expected to approve a $284,000 contract with Amelia US on Wednesday. Amelia US provides “conversational artificial intelligence” services to businesses and government agencies across the country, including the U.S. Navy.
According to a city memo, Amelia’s AI tools “can answer phone calls and respond to written inquiries like a customer service representative,” can “understand and respond in multiple languages” 24 hours a day, and “answer dozens of calls at a single time. “
The AI technology can also streamline government services by “handling routine tasks, allowing staff to focus on more complex initiatives and boosting productivity,” the memo states.
According to a winning bid proposal submitted by Amelia, the company uses state-of-the-art conversational AI and generative AI programs to “field and triage both employee and client calls and chats on the first touch, answer questions, process inquiries and intelligently route calls to human agents only when necessary.”
Lynne Martzall, Coral Springs’ director of communications and marketing, said the technology is not meant to reduce human interaction but rather “to enhance our ability to serve residents effectively.”
“The AI will initially be deployed internally within our I.T. department as a pilot program, focusing on optimizing internal customer service processes and determining best practices before any public-facing implementation is considered,” Martzall said. “By leveraging innovative solutions like AI, we aim to increase efficiency and productivity for employees, allowing them to focus on addressing resident needs in a more timely and impactful manner.”
If the city deems the pilot program a success, the AI platform “may be rolled out to other departments to provide help to our residents and businesses when they contact our city departments,” the city memo states.
“Residents can rest assured that the level of service they receive will remain unchanged, and this technology is being evaluated with the intention of augmenting—not replacing—the personalized interactions residents expect from city staff,” Martzall said.
Some Coral Springs residents said they were not convinced AI could effectively help city taxpayers.
“That’s not a good look,” longtime resident Keith Roberts, who has previously been critical of the city bureaucracy, said of the proposed AI deal. “The difficulty of getting somebody on the phone with knowledge of the city – and I’m not bashing the city or talking bad about anybody – is already bad as it is.”
Records show that the city’s proposed contract with Amelia US, a New York City-based company, was the result of a request-for-proposals process that drew multiple bids.
The agreement with Amelia would run through Oct. 30, 2025, and is up for a vote at Wednesday’s commission meeting.
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