The Local Government and Artificial Intelligence Nexus: A Five-Decade Scientometric Analysis on Evolution, State-of-The-Art, and Emerging Trends

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, in recent years, have surged across various sectors, extending its influence on public governance, particularly in local governments. Despite this, there exists a limited grasp of the overarching narrative surrounding the adoption of AI in local governments and its future trajectory. This study, hence, aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the historical evolution, current state-of-the-art, and emerging trends in the adoption of AI in the local government context. A comprehensive scientometric analysis was conducted on the relevant literature records (n=7,112) published in the Scopus database during the last five decades (1973-2023). The study findings revealed the following key insights: (a) Exponential technological advancements in the last decades brought the Blooming Era of AI adoption for local governments; (b) The main AI adoption purposes in local governments include decision support, automation, prediction, and service delivery; (c) The main AI adoption areas in local governments include planning, analytics, security, surveillance, energy, and modelling; (d) Under-researched but critical research areas include responsibility and ethics of AI adoption in local governments. This study informs research, policy and practice by offering a comprehensive understanding of the literature on AI applications in local governments.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), local government, municipality, technology adoption, smart city, GeoAI