Why should AI matter to parks and public service generally?
Using ChatGPT I am able to write documentation or internal blogs and solve novel coding problems likely 10x faster. Using GitHub Copilot I am able to almost entirely shortcut writing boiler plate code, docstrings, and comments. These are significant portions of my individual contributions on the job, perhaps 50%. This assistance does not eliminate the exercise of any of which because generative AI is nowhere near replacement level but it does make me much more productive and often a better writer/programmer with an AI second opinion. Consequently, I am able to complete more projects not only faster but better, leading to projects that span asset, tree, water, and wildlife management being delivered sooner and better than before for parks. This particularly matters as a solo analyst (not for long - thank heavens we are hiring) on a small team because there is a limiting factor to a single analyst's bandwidth and productivity improves rarely with such large jumps like now post being aided by generative AI. Many of those in similar positions in public service like a parks department are in the same place and every hour & productivity gain matters when data teams are often overlooked and underfunded in those same places. AI may be infrequently adopted by parks department teams but the early adopters, like data teams should be, will see the benefits early and should have impacts.
And this is just speaking of generative AI not to mention more traditional approaches of machine learning that are can be more intensely impactful but more narrowly applied. Park staff should not be manually tabulating wildlife from thousands of photos, making budget projections, assessing asset lifecycles, etc in 2024 but here we are and this is why data teams could use more time via productivity (or budget cough cough) enhancements such as from generative AI than anything.
#AI #Parks #PublicService #data
Current + Future state of A.I. in Parks & Recreation...
How will A.I. disrupt our industry?
