Across Michigan, a quiet shift is underway. County clerks are testing chatbots. Assessors are exploring automation. Planners are wondering if artificial intelligence can finally make sense of zoning codes written before color TV.
The Digital Innovation Collaborative Exchange (DICE), in partnership with Western Michigan University’s Center for Excellence in Public Service, is launching a new effort to bring all of these experiments into one shared conversation: the Michigan Local Government AI Users Group.
This new network will connect counties, cities, townships, villages, academics, regional civic partners, and state agencies that are beginning to explore artificial intelligence and automation in public service. The goal isn’t hype, it’s practical progress. We want to understand what’s working, what’s not, and how to build a shared foundation for responsible, efficient, and transparent use of AI across Michigan’s public institutions.
Why We’re Doing This
AI is already reshaping local government. From summarizing meeting minutes to routing FOIA requests, early adopters are discovering ways to save time and stretch limited staff capacity just slightly beyond human elasticity. Yet, each jurisdiction is learning in isolation, heroically reinventing governance frameworks, procurement processes, and training materials as if no one else had ever encountered an IT policy before.
The Michigan Local Government AI Users Group aims to change that by building a statewide forum for collaboration, one grounded in ethics, open data, and the daily realities of small but determined public offices.
The first step is a short survey designed to map out who’s doing what, what tools are being tested, and what support governments need most. It takes about five minutes, which is roughly the time it takes most of us to reboot a printer.
What the Survey Asks
The survey gathers information across five main themes:
Current Engagement: Is your organization experimenting with AI now, planning to, or still sensibly observing from a safe distance?
Governance Readiness: Do you have policies, oversight structures, or ethical guidelines in place—or at least a draft waiting for legal review since last spring?
Technical Baseline: What systems (GIS, CMS, ticketing) form your digital backbone, and how often do they politely refuse to talk to one another?
Funding Outlook: Are budgets or grants in play for digital innovation, or are you operating on the traditional local government model of optimism and duct tape?
Collaboration Interests: Which platforms, partnerships, or meeting formats work best for you? (We promise not to schedule anything at 8 a.m. on a Monday.)
Different branches of the survey tailor questions for local officials, academics, nonprofits, vendors, and state agencies. Each group’s input will help identify where coordination is needed most, whether that’s shared policies, co-pilot projects, or the occasional collective sigh over data governance.
What Happens Next
Results will be compiled into the Michigan AI Readiness Dashboard, an open-access visualization of the state’s collective digital posture. The dashboard will show where experimentation is happening, which domains (like permitting or communications) are seeing early success, and where shared governance frameworks are emerging, ideally before anyone tries to invent a 243rd version of an AI policy template.
These findings will guide the first Michigan AI Users Roundtable, planned for early 2026, where participants will set working group priorities and define collaborative pilot projects.
Why It Matters
Michigan’s digital landscape is fragmented but full of promise. By pooling expertise across governments, universities, and regional partners, we can avoid the familiar public-sector pastime of learning the same hard lessons in parallel. More importantly, we can ensure that AI in government stays transparent, auditable, and aligned with public values, not merely vendor enthusiasm.
This effort isn’t about chasing technology for its own sake. It’s about giving local governments the collective muscle to use it wisely, thoughtfully, and perhaps even with a little less paperwork.
How to Participate
The survey is open to anyone involved or interested in public-sector AI in Michigan, local government staff, elected officials, academic researchers, students, nonprofits, and vendors supporting government modernization.
Take the 3–5 minute survey here:
[Start the Survey →]
For updates or to join future working sessions, contact gis@vanburencountymi.gov.
