AI in public administration improves citizen information: A case study by ONTEC AI and the Austrian Federal Computing Center

In the course of digitizing public services, the Austrian Federal Computing Center aimed to improve citizen service. Employees who answer phone inquiries from the public should have easy access to all knowledge through an internal Q&A AI and be able to pass it on directly. This case study highlights the development and implementation of this AI solution for public administration.

robot symbolizing AI helping a customer service clerk with information

About the Austrian Federal Computing Center (BRZ)

The Austrian Federal Computing Center (German: Bundesrechenzentrum, hereinafter referred to as BRZ) is a leading IT service provider for the federal administration, specializing in the development and provision of efficient, secure, and innovative IT solutions.

As the hub of the country’s digital administration, the BRZ plays a key role in implementing the digital agenda and promoting the digital transformation of public services.

The business case: digitization of public administration with AI

Most of us have probably experienced difficulties in obtaining important information from public administration at least once. Despite intensive efforts to compile all relevant content on https://oesterreich.gv.at, it can be challenging to find and understand specific information efficiently.

This is due to the nature and complexity of the matter: the public does not always know the relevant terms and search keywords. Without these, the only option is to manually search through various menu items, which is time-consuming. Traditional methods like full-text search or FAQs reach their limits.

The solution: an AI for public administration

With the team from ONTEC AI as consulting and development partners, a platform was to be created that not only relieves service points but also increases the general acceptance of AI-supported services.

After a necessary consultation phase, it was decided to develop a Q&A chat, also called Q&A Machine – Questions & Answers, a user-friendly tool that provides answers to questions.

Special attention is paid to the transparency and reliability of the answers, including a score for the AI’s confidence and listing of sources. The focus is on using publicly available sources to provide a low-threshold and high-quality information offering.

The Q&A chat enables citizens to get answers to procedural questions using artificial intelligence. They can ask questions in natural language or enter keywords. The system then searches https://oesterreich.gv.at as a source of secure, public information and answers the question in easily understandable language.

Technical implementation and added value

The project is characterized by its technical complexity and the use of advanced AI methods. Examples include automatic crawling, semantic search, text classification and generation, and anti-hallucination measures.

By using the European language model Luminous from Aleph Alpha – a LLM manufacturer based in Germany – a contribution to technological sovereignty was also made.

During the project, the ONTEC team encountered some unexpected challenges, including the limited availability of key personnel at the BRZ and the need to collect data through crawling, as direct API access was initially unavailable. These situations provided the team with a unique opportunity to demonstrate adaptability and commitment to project success. Through proactive engagement and taking on additional coordination tasks, effective solutions were developed, and communication and project flow were seamlessly maintained.

Summary and key takeaways

The Q&A chat of the Austrian Federal Computing Center exemplifies the transformative power of AI in the public sector. It shows how innovative approaches and the integration of artificial intelligence can significantly improve access to and processing of information for the public.