Bucheon City to Phase In "AI Duty System" from July, Saving 1.06 Billion Won Annually

Three-Stage Roadmap in Operation Through January Next Year
"Integrated Control Center" Unifies Functions to Build a Swift Response System

Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province will begin the phased introduction of an "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Duty System" starting in July. Simple civil complaints will be handled automatically by AI, while emergencies such as disasters will be managed in an integrated manner by the Integrated Control Center.

The city announced on the 12th that, in line with the overall reform of the public official duty system led by the Ministry of Personnel Management, it has decided to shift to an "All-in-One AI Smart Duty System" and will implement the AI Duty System in phases according to a three-stage roadmap through January next year.

The city explained that an analysis of last year's duty-related civil complaint data showed that 81.7% of all cases were simple inquiries or transfers to other departments, and only 2.3% resulted in actual on-site dispatches. Accordingly, to address a small volume of repetitive complaints, the city decided to replace the existing high-cost, low-efficiency structure of maintaining night-shift personnel with an "AI Duty System."

Phased implementation plan for the 'AI Duty System'. Provided by Bucheon-si

In the first stage, starting in July, all night duty operations at the three district offices will be abolished and integrated into City Hall. The number of duty personnel will be reduced from 16 to 8, and security at the district offices will be managed by an unmanned security system and professional security staff. In the second stage, in October, the city will launch an "Integrated Control Center" by combining the City Hall duty office and the Disaster and Safety Situation Room. Duty personnel will be adjusted to five, reducing the budget by a total of 380 million won, and unifying the functions of responding to civil complaints and disaster response to increase the speed of handling emergencies.

From January next year, the third-stage "AI Duty System" will be fully implemented. Simple complaints that only involve transferring matters to relevant departments, which cannot be processed during night hours, will be automatically received 24 hours a day by an AI voice bot, while emergencies and complex complaints will be immediately and automatically linked to the Integrated Control Center under an AI-human collaboration model. The city will also establish an instant connection service for digitally vulnerable groups such as the elderly, as well as an emergency staffing system to prepare for system failures.

The city expects that this reform will save approximately 1.06 billion won in the budget each year, which will be reinvested into projects that improve residents' daily lives and livelihoods. In addition, by standardizing responses to civil complaints and managing them based on AI data, the city aims to enhance the quality of administration and improve the working environment by reducing the burden of night shifts on public officials.

'AI Duty System' 3-stage diagram. Provided by Bucheon-si

Next month, the city will use simulation methods to check for potential citizen inconvenience and blind spots that may arise from the abolition of district office duty services, and by May it plans to complete revisions to ordinances and regulations, as well as legal reviews, to establish the institutional foundation for the AI Duty System.

Bucheon Mayor Cho Yongik said, "Through the restructuring of the AI Duty System, our employees will be able to focus more on citizen-facing work, and it is also expected to have a positive impact on promoting a work-life balance culture," adding, "We will boldly innovate the long-standing duty culture and pursue 'real innovation' by transforming it with data and technology."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.