Official Maricopa County Website Adds Virtual Assistant

PHOENIX—Maricopa County is providing an innovative new option for residents looking for reliable, 24/7 information about county programs and services. In collaboration with IBM technology, Maricopa County has launched an AI-powered virtual assistant designed to guide people directly to the information they need when they need it.

PHOENIX—Maricopa County is providing an innovative new option for residents looking for reliable, 24/7 information about county programs and services. In collaboration with IBM technology, Maricopa County has launched an AI-powered virtual assistant designed to guide people directly to the information they need when they need it. "With this enhancement to Maricopa.gov, we are giving residents a way to find information about county services faster, anytime they want, with fewer steps," said Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee, District 3. "If you like the traditional search bar or clicking through menus, you can continue to do so. But if you prefer the AI chat experience, now we have that available too. It's part of a broader county initiative to meet residents where they are with enhanced and personalized service." Meet Mari Nicknamed "Mari," the little orange circle in the bottom-right corner of Maricopa.gov opens into an AI-powered virtual assistant designed to do more than respond to basic keyword searches. It's technology that uses artificial intelligence to interpret questions and direct residents to relevant information across multiple County websites. In its first few weeks of operation, Mari has provided fast and thorough responses to questions about pet adoption, property ownership, public health, and much more. Residents can ask questions in natural language and include personal preferences. For example, you could say you're looking to adopt a dog that's good with other pets (see response below). Each response includes a link to a trusted, official county source for residents who want to dig deeper. With Mari handling FAQs, staff can spend more time on the complex needs that matter most. "I'm proud to see Maricopa County exploring new ways to make government services more accessible and responsive," said Elliott Aten, General Manager, U.S. West Region. "By applying IBM's technology to trusted County information, Mari can help connect people to answers more quickly while supporting the governance, transparency, and human oversight residents expect." Guardrails Maricopa County understands artificial intelligence is insufficient without human oversight and built-in technological guardrails. With Mari, Maricopa County is using IBM watsonx Orchestrate technology grounded in publicly available County information and configured with controls designed to support responsible and appropriate use. There's a human involved at nearly every step in the process. Among the protections built into Mari: Answers are based on publicly available county data, controlled at the department level. Each request and response is tracked for county staff to review interactions, topics, and sources of data used and improve and fine-tune responses. There are controls to reroute specialized requests to subject matters experts or sources. System guardrails are designed to help reduce inappropriate responses. "Today's residents expect government to be as accessible and responsive as the services they use every day," said Maricopa County Chief Information Officer Richard McHattie. "Mari is another step in our commitment to modernizing how residents interact with County government by providing trusted information instantly, 24 hours a day. This launch reflects what's possible when County leadership invests in innovation and talented teams across our organization collaborate to improve the resident experience."