The City of Perth council has rejected a staff request to expand the use of artificial intelligence for recording council meetings, despite rising workloads and a drop in staff numbers. The decision was made at the April 29 council meeting, where the vote was 4-5 against the proposal.
Background of the Proposal
Staff had already begun using Microsoft Copilot to record elected member engagement sessions and budget workshops. They sought permission to extend its use to cover audit, risk and improvement committees, CEO performance reviews, and policy, legislation and governance committee meetings. A report to the council argued that this would help staff manage resource constraints, as preparing accurate minutes can require substantial effort.
Council Concerns
Opposition to the proposal centered on accuracy and access. Deputy Lord Mayor David Goncalves raised concerns about AI's potential to hallucinate, misattribute statements, drop context, and summarize incorrectly. He emphasized that while AI can support efficiency, it cannot replace human oversight. Council members also questioned who would be responsible if AI-generated minutes were found to be inaccurate.
Governance and policy manager Charlie Clark noted that under the Local Government Act, recordings and transcripts are considered working materials, and council members are not automatically entitled to them. He stated that if the council wanted access, a freedom of information request would be required.
Rejection of Alternative Proposal
Cr Goncalves proposed that elected members be allowed to access confidential copies of audio recordings or transcripts for verification purposes, but this was rejected 2-7. Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds favored maintaining the traditional hand-written minutes, stating that the current system works well and is not broken. He added that administration staff are happy to continue manually taking minutes.
Support for AI
Councillors Raj Doshi and Catherine Lezer supported the AI expansion, arguing it would support staff and make processes simpler and more transparent. Cr Goncalves suggested that if AI was not used, the city could hire a minute-taker in the traditional way.
Earlier this year, it was revealed that job offers at the city were being declined, highlighting staffing challenges. The council's decision means staff will continue to manage their workload without the aid of AI for committee meetings.
