Where AI, Pirates, and Paperwork Collide
If you think county meetings are dull affairs involving budgets and binders, you clearly haven’t attended Van Buren County’s Digital Innovation Task Force. The September session was less “Robert’s Rules” and more “robots rule.”
Here are the highlights (and a few delightful side-quests).
1. When Google Went Full Gemini
The team kicked things off by exploring Google’s new AI Mode, which now comes baked right into everyday search. It’s essentially Gemini for the masses, allowing anyone to talk to Google like it’s an over-caffeinated research assistant.
This prompted a brief philosophical moment: “It’s going to be impossible to function without AI now.” Everyone nodded, half in excitement, half in quiet resignation that the machines are, indeed, winning.
2. JotForm Gets a Brain (and Maybe a Soul)
Walter then showed off AI-powered web forms, which now politely chat with residents instead of just sitting there, silently judging their typos.
The county’s new Address Change form can now walk users through the process conversationally, or even by voice. It explains why information is needed (“No, we’re not selling your email address to aliens”) and can handle mild frustration with AI empathy.
“You could even yell at it,” someone noted, “and it still answers nicely.”
These forms will eventually handle everything from HR submissions to court filings. The team has space for 100 of these chatbots, which feels like enough for now, but, as we’ve learned, local government tends to collect forms the way squirrels collect acorns.
3. GIS Gets Conversational (Finally)
Next came the mind-bending demo: AI-controlled GIS mapping.
Drake showed off a system where you can simply type:
“Show me all parcels larger than 200 acres near I-94.”
And it does.
No layers. No drop-downs. No 40-step tutorial. Just a map.
They even discovered a parcel measured at 3.21×10⁻⁸ acres, technically smaller than a postage stamp, proving that not all land is created equal.
This “LLM-to-GIS” approach is early but revolutionary. Soon, anyone will be able to get complex spatial data without needing a degree in geography or a tolerance for ArcGIS menus.
4. Marty the Chatbot: County Employee of the Year
The team’s resident chatbot, Marty, continues to outperform expectations (and possibly some humans).
Marty now fields around 10,000 conversations a year, saving roughly 2,000 staff hours, the equivalent of one full-time employee who never takes lunch breaks or sick days.
Most popular topics?
- Court fines and schedules
- Jail visits and inmate rosters
- Property and addressing questions
Residents really, really want to know who’s in jail.
Next up: Marty 2.0 will directly connect to court dockets and inmate rosters so it can actually answer those questions instead of saying, “Go look it up.” Think of it as self-service justice, powered by AI.
Someone tried to “jailbreak” Marty recently (because of course they did). Marty refused, proving it’s not just smart, it’s stubborn.
5. Accessibility, Veterans, and AI for Good
A thoughtful sidebar emerged about how AI could support older residents and veterans, from voice-controlled forms to digital signatures for those with mobility challenges.
There was a touching realism in the discussion: technology isn’t progress unless everyone can use it.
6. AI, Pirates, and Policy
And then came the entertainment portion: Jerry discovered a new Gemini tool that animates photos.
It worked flawlessly when he uploaded a photo of himself as an 1830s surveyor. But when he tried the same with his AI-generated pirate portrait, Google refused, on the grounds that pirates are “dangerous.”
“Apparently I’ve violated Google’s anti-pirate policy,” he sighed.
Moral of the story: you can animate a Victorian gentleman, but a swashbuckler is right out.
7. The Next Frontier: “Sarge” and Beyond
The team’s next mission is Project Sarge, an AI assistant for the Veterans Office. It’s still in development, but expectations are high (and jokes about “chain of command” have already begun).
There’s also talk of a newsletter, though it’s currently in what might be described as beta limbo, awaiting either volunteers or divine intervention.
In Summary
The meeting wrapped up with laughter, optimism, and the faint hum of a dozen AI models running quietly in the background.
Van Buren County’s Digital Innovation Task Force isn’t just modernizing local government, it’s reinventing what “public service” looks like in the age of algorithms.
They’re not waiting for Silicon Valley to save rural America. They’re doing it themselves, one chatbot, one form, and one surprisingly well-dressed 1830s surveyor at a time.
