What happens when elected officials cannot understand the issues well enough to make good decisions?  
 
Local councillors often receive hundreds of pages of complex reports just days before critical votes, covering financial modelling, engineering specifications and legal implications. They get no independent advice or analytical resources beyond what they can assemble themselves. 
 
This creates a structural imbalance. Mostly part-time councillors face full-time administrative staff armed with legal, planning, and other technical expertise, institutional memory, and significantly more financial resources. The result is information asymmetry that weakens democratic oversight and leaves elected representatives struggling to fulfil their governance responsibilities. 
 
Many councillors report feeling overwhelmed by heavy workloads, intense pressure and public criticism. Attracting and retaining capable people is becoming increasingly difficult. 
 
Artificial intelligence offers a solution, not by replacing human judgment, but by strengthening councillors’ analytic capabilities. AI tools transform how people can process information. AI can generate plain-language summaries of documents in seconds. It can interrogate those documents, identify risks, suggest targeted questions, search the web for similar or different expert perspectives and more. 
 
Several New Zealand councils are already experimenting with AI. Hutt City Council says its staff saves 38 minutes daily through AI tools – equivalent to 20 working days annually per person. Auckland Council is launching an AI-powered digital assistant. Nelson City Council used AI to process thousands of public submissions effectively. 
 
These examples focus on administrative efficiency and customer service, which is excellent. So far missing, though, are AI tools to help elected representatives. They have the potential to strengthen democratic oversight. The question is whether there is the will to embrace them. 
 
Willingness and ability to use AI remain key barriers. New Zealanders are sceptical – A recent international survey showed New Zealand has the most public wariness about AI. Concerns about security and privacy risks, algorithmic bias, and over-reliance deserve attention, and councils must address them. 
 
AI is no substitute for councillors having foundational knowledge and experience. Councils will need to help their elected representatives use it wisely.  
 
Without change, the information asymmetry between elected representatives and staff will only worsen. Administrative staff will continue to drive local councils’ agendas and control the flow of information while councillors fall behind. 
 
It is time local leaders are equipped with smart tools that match the information age. 
 
Nick Clark’s research note, Smart Support for Councillors: AI Tools for Local Government, published on 12 June.