A Japanese city is to hand over admin tasks to the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Yokosuka City in Kanagawa Prefecture, which lies to the south of the Greater Tokyo Area, has reportedly begun using the controversial software with its 4,000 city workers, it announced on Thursday, 20th April.
ChatGPT, which was developed by OpenAI last year, is going to be used for a one-month trial in an effort to smooth operations, according to local media.
The program will undertake all the city’s writing tasks and even sit in on brainstorming sessions.
And if the trial is successful, the city plans to continue using it, according to local media.
The Yokosuka city hall has linked an existing workers’ program called ‘LoGo Chat’ to ChatGPT.

It will be used to create and summarise texts, check for spelling mistakes, report meetings and generate new ideas, according to local media.
The software is able to share information even during live meetings.
One worker said: “It’s like having a group brainstorming session, and one of the best staff members joins the group.”
But the city has introduced a rule banning people from entering personal or confidential information into the software.
A spokesperson for Yokosuka’s digital government promotion office said: “We would like to leave what we can to machines and focus on what only people can do, such as providing personalised administrative services.”
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