Aomori Prefectural Government Adopts 'AI Digital Staff' Generative AI Chatbot: Operating Costs Cut by Over 70%, Work Efficiency Greatly Improved

ecbeing Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; President: Masaya Hayashi) is pleased to announce that the Aomori Prefectural Government has adopted 'AI Digital Staff,' a self-developed chatbot based on the powerful ChatGPT natural language processing model. Operations on the official website commenced on December 1, 2025.

This implementation has significantly reduced the manual workload for Q&A maintenance, which was a major hurdle for traditional scenario-based chatbots. In addition to a 70%+ reduction in operating costs, the government has achieved substantial operational efficiency and improved results, such as doubling monthly usage by providing 24/7 assistance to citizens.

### Background of Implementation
As part of administrative reform and DX promotion, Aomori Prefecture had previously introduced a scenario-based AI chatbot since 2023 to reduce staff burden and improve services. However, answer accuracy was low, with user satisfaction stagnating at around 20%. Despite efforts to manually register 500 Q&A entries, the effectiveness was temporary, reaching system limits. Furthermore, the massive coordination and data maintenance workload across departments remained a significant bottleneck.

ecbeing's 'AI Digital Staff' was chosen for its ability to automatically read website information and create answers, eliminating the need for manual scenario registration. The speed of implementation—with a demo environment built only one day after the request—was also highly evaluated, leading to an early rollout.

### Current Usage and Impact
- **Broad Automated Response and Cross-Site Search:** The AI automatically handles diverse queries ranging from snow removal and bear sightings to winter sports, tourism, and traditional crafts. This has increased user navigation to detailed craft pages within the website.
- **Strategic PR and Disaster Support:** For the 2026 National Sports and Disability Sports Festival, the system uses 'Sample Questions' to naturally guide users to relevant info on venues and merchandise. During recent disasters like the earthquake in December, the AI could instantly reflect website updates in its answers, serving as a rapid information channel.
- **Doubled Usage and 70% Cost Reduction:** Monthly usage surged from 1,600 to 3,700 cases. Operating costs dropped from approximately 220,000 JPY to 50,000 JPY per month. The flat-rate pricing model (unlimited use) is particularly beneficial for government budget management.
- **Zero Q&A Creation Workload:** The 'double management' of updating the website and the AI scenario has been resolved. Staff now only need to keep the website up to date, drastically reducing administrative pressure and mental burden.

Furthermore, internal use by government staff as a business efficiency tool is increasing, as the AI can handle vague queries and propose appropriate information better than traditional keyword-based searches.