Workshop on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Public Services was held on 10 October

The second workshop on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Public Services, organised by Izmir Planning Agency (IZPA) and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Innovation and Technology Inc. (IZTEK), was held on 10 October 2024 at Alsancak Historical Havagazı Factory.

The second workshop on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Public Services, held in cooperation with Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Innovation and Technology Inc. (İZTEKNOLOJİ) and Izmir Planning Agency (İZPA), was held at the Historical Havagazı Factory Cultural Centre. Speaking at the workshop, Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay said, ‘We set out to provide new generation municipal services. Within the scope of our goal of “Smart City Izmir”, we will bring technological developments, digitalisation and smart management systems to our city by using artificial intelligence technologies. In this direction, our goal is to make our city one of the most advanced cities not only in Turkey but also in the world.’

‘More data is needed’
Stating that there is a need for more data and faster data analysis in many services, Mayor Tugay said, ‘This is what we are trying to do. With our technology company, our research on artificial intelligence, our efforts to accelerate our services by digitalising them, we are actually working for the next 10-20 years. I want to know where the traffic is more troublesome due to faulty traffic regulation in this city. I want to know which bus services are efficient or inefficient so that people wait less at bus stops, so that we can organise the right services. We need to analyse data on energy and water efficiency almost instantaneously. We want to develop for these,’ he said.
 

Three impacts of artificial intelligence and technology
Speaking about the future of artificial intelligence at the workshop, Head of IZPA Prof. Dr. Koray Velibeyoğlu stated that technology has three effects and that these effects are the effect of replacing, enriching business processes and inspiring / triggering. Giving examples with data in his speech, Velibeyoğlu said, ‘Artificial intelligence improves business efficiency by 31 per cent. It opens new business areas by 21 per cent. The substitution effect is an issue that everyone fears. Accordingly, artificial intelligence will continue with 38 per cent automation in the USA and 35 per cent in Germany. This means that some of the jobs we are used to will no longer exist. The sectors that will be most affected seem to be transport, manufacturing industry and trade. This means that the impact of automation will be felt highly in these areas. According to the data, a new class will emerge in the future. In 50 years, 80 per cent of the population will exercise only the right to live. When we look at Turkey's population, the average age will be 52 in 2100. The population over 65 will be 35 per cent. Therefore, we can say that most of the 80 will withdraw from the labour force. This paints a dark picture. In the third effect, humans are still slightly ahead in terms of creative thinking. Artificial intelligence is weaker in context and analysis. But there are two extremes at this point. The first is the combination of human and artificial intelligence. Second, artificial intelligence will create new ruling classes and power relations. This opens the door to another world. We are on the threshold of this. The important thing is how we will manage it or how we will deal with it.’

‘Digital twin Izmir target’
Emrecan Durmaz, General Manager of IZTEKNOLOGY, a subsidiary of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, stated that they act with the goal of digital twin Izmir and said, ‘We want to knit this process with concrete projects without wasting any more time. We gathered with the aim of bringing together our academicians, the start-ups of our city, and the managers of our municipality at tables with specific topics where concrete projects will be discussed. I believe that we will plan concrete works in our topics today and in the near future we will reach the point where we will be able to make decisions on many issues such as transport, infrastructure, urban planning, disaster and climate crisis through Izmir's digital twin.’

‘Smart City Izmir’ target
Organised within the framework of the ‘Smart City Izmir’ target, the workshop brought together senior executives of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, relevant department heads, academicians and entrepreneurs. The participants, who were divided into groups, discussed how artificial intelligence technologies can be used in Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, digitalisation processes, data-driven working approaches, how processes and resource use can be optimised through data analytics, and how citizen satisfaction can be increased through artificial intelligence. The workshop generated ideas on the digital twin of transport and urban planning and disaster and resilience issues, public transport, smart traffic, social policies, environment and gulf, culture, tourism and sports, urban planning, food and agricultural technologies and communication.