The City of Perth rejects staff requests to use AI

A request for City of Perth staff to use AI to manage their workload amid a reduction in staff numbers has been rejected.

Employees have recently started using Microsoft Copilot to record elected member engagement sessions and budget workshops.

They wanted to expand the use to record the city’s audit, risks and improvements, the CEO performance review, and meetings of the policy, legislative and governance committee.

A report to the council said this would help staff deal with current resource constraints as establishing accurate protocols could require “significant effort”.

However, the council voted 4-5 against the idea at its April 29 meeting, citing concerns about accuracy and questions about who could access the records.

The proposal was first put forward in March but was delayed until last month after Deputy Mayor David Goncalves wanted elected members to have access to confidential copies of audio recordings or transcripts for “governance or review purposes” and…