Public authorities and local administrations are confronted with a growing flood of information in their daily work - from citizen-generated data and administrative regulations to current administrative records and archive documents. Citizens' demand for fast and efficient services is constantly growing, as they have become accustomed to high standards due to digitalization in the consumer sector.
AI-based enterprise search is a promising technology to tackle these challenges. Intelligent search software such as iFinder can use so-called connectors to link, index and analyze a wide variety of data sources from public authorities. With the help of advanced text analysis processes and artificial intelligence methods such as machine learning, deep learning and semantic search, the software captures structured and unstructured content, sorts and aggregates it and puts it in the right context.
This enables employees to find the information they need quickly and reliably through one central search interface. This not only makes day-to-day work easier, but also strengthens knowledge management within the authority. New employees can be trained faster and the valuable knowledge of leaving colleagues that is stored in various systems and formats does not get lost.
The potential applications of this AI-based search software go far beyond simple searches, as it uses intelligent document analysis to enable the further processing of documents in information-based processes. For example:
The integration of generative AI expands the capabilities of enterprise search to include dialogue capabilities. AI assistants offer employees great support, especially in knowledge management. They not only understand and process human language, but they can also create answers and summarize texts to be used in emails, memos, etc. This opens numerous new application possibilities, some of which we are already implementing with public authorities, such as:
The most interesting use case for an organization is to use generative AI with their own data. But how to avoid hallucinations that have recently occurred with chatbots such as ChatGPT and how to prevent information from reaching unauthorized users?
Enterprise Search connects and integrates all internal data sources. When users perform a search query, Enterprise Search scans the organization’s own data for relevant information and provides the retrieved passages to the AI model to generate an answer. If new documents or data are added to the connected data sources, they are automatically indexed by the search software. This means that the answers provided by the generative AI are always based on up-to-date information. This significantly reduces the risk of hallucinations. In addition, Enterprise Search indicates the sources from which an answer was generated – this increases transparency, and users can always check the information source.
Central internal data protection requirements of public administrations are also fulfilled: As the search software automatically takes data access rights into account, employees only receive information in their answers that they are authorized to see and use. To also ensure external data security, it is advisable to operate the generative AI models on-premises, on the organization’s own servers. This means that no information flows to ultimately uncontrollable cloud providers of generative AI services.
Search engines that use artificial intelligence, such as iFinder, must comply with the requirements of the new EU AI Act. This regulation ensures that AI is used ethically, transparently and safely. Authorities can therefore rely on the maximum safety and efficiency of the solutions in day-to-day operations.
By utilizing and processing information efficiently, public administrations can improve their services and meet the increasing expectations of citizens. Intelligent search software in combination with generative AI helps to speed up administrative processes while ensuring data security - an important building block in the context of digital sovereignty.
