Ghent launches CityBot to enhance urban communication and citizen engagement
The City of Ghent in Belgium developed CityBot, an AI-based chatbot built on Microsoft Azure, to revolutionize how the city communicates with its residents. Using Azure AI services, CityBot provides timely and multilingual information about city policies, mobility updates, and public services. The implementation was accelerated by the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which clear, fast, and accessible public communication became mission-critical. CityBot enables instant information relay across city departments, ensures transparency, and supports secure digital communication. The result is significantly improved citizen awareness and compliance, greater efficiency in policy dissemination, and a modernized digital interface for government-citizen interactions. Ghent’s approach sets a benchmark for urban mobility optimization, crisis management, and digital government services, paving the way for other cities seeking to leverage AI in public sector communications.
- Organization
- City of Ghent
- Industry
- Public Sector
- Location
- Belgium
- Published
- November 2020
Reported outcomes
Strategic outcomes
Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks
- Customer
- City of Ghent
- Provider
- Microsoft
- Maturity
- Unknown
- Linked source
- Microsoft Industry Blog
No explicit deployment-stage evidence found.
Primary read
Use case focus
Showing 3 of 3
- 1citizen communication chatbot
- 2public information management
- 3urban mobility updates
- The need for efficient and transparent communication between city departments and residents.
- Difficulty in keeping citizens updated on public policies, information, and mobility services, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.
- Demand for secure and multilingual digital communication methods in a diverse city.
- Requirement for minimizing time between policy creation and citizen compliance/awareness.
- Obstacles in delivering accurate public information rapidly during emergencies.
- Developed CityBot, an AI-powered chatbot built on Microsoft Azure.
- Leveraged Azure AI Services to enable multilingual, secure information delivery.
- Integrated CityBot across multiple city departments to streamline communication.
- Enabled instant, digital dissemination of policies and updates to citizens.
- Provided an easily accessible digital interface for urban mobility and public service communication.
- Significantly reduced time from policy release to citizen awareness and compliance.
- Improved citywide information delivery and transparency.
- Enhanced efficiency in communication across departments.
- Increased citizen satisfaction and engagement with public services.
- Established a resilient digital infrastructure for crisis communications.
Sources & evidence1
- Customer explicitly identified
- Technical implementation details available
- Recent evidence check available
- Last evidence check: Jun 1, 2026.
The cited source is no longer reachable and the organization has no newer case. Not a claim the system was discontinued.
- Cited source last checked Jun 1, 2026 — broken (1/1 broken).
Measures whether this deployment's public evidence persists — not whether the system is still in production.
AI-generated summary. Verify important details with the linked sources before relying on this case.
Explore related AI use cases
Was this useful?
Community
Comments
Loading comments...