The mayor of the French town of Arcachon, Yves Foulon, has given his 12,000 constituents a ChatGPT subscription and said the idea “stems from a political desire to combat the digital divide”.
With 60 per cent of the population more than 60-years-old, making Arcachon “the oldest town in France, sociologically speaking”, Foulon said on October 22 his aim was to give greater access to the artificial intelligence tool for his constituents in the Gironde town.
He said he believed the chatbot developed by OpenAI and Microsoft could be useful for all Arachon’s residents, from teenagers to senior citizens.
Younger locals have argued that they could use it for homework or creative support, while the older generation can, among other things, obtain personalised health advice.
“Google gives you a series of factual answers, while ChatGPT gives you access to CV and letter writing, providing and refining answers,” Foulon said.
”It speeds up access to the digital world and does so more than other traditional processes.”
The ChatGPT subscription will also work as a substitute for public services where the bot can provide precise answers to Arcachonnais’ questions, whether about events, administrative procedures or other relevant subjects.
“There are two categories of use,” pointed out Maxime Girardet, town councillor responsible for digital issues in Arcachon.
“We can use the OpenAI site for encyclopaedic information, a writing task, or the composition of a recipe using such and such ingredients. But we’ve also trained him [sic] with data from our website, and he’s become an expert on the town of Arcachon,” he said.
The AI-powered chatbot is not regarded by experts as completely neutral and many have criticised its tendency for inaccuracies.
In 2023, a study revealed that the OpenAI tool had expressed what appeared to be a Liberal bias.
A study conducted by researchers from the University of East Anglia in the UK suggests that OpenAI’s ChatGPT has a liberal bias. https://t.co/hBJeD2uIza
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) August 17, 2023
To curb criticism of potential breaches of data privacy, the local authorities have assured users their searches will remain confidential.
“To guarantee confidentiality, all interactions with ChatGPT will be entirely anonymised, ensuring total respect for personal data,” they said on the town’s website.
Access to ChatGPT is offered to all Arcachonnais’ primary or secondary residents. With proof of address, they can pick up their code at local community centres or the town hall reception desk.
The city estimated an annual budget of €10,000 for providing its AI service.
