Central Oregon Governments Embrace AI

Bend News Today | 2 Min News | The Daily News Now! · Jun 28, 2026 · 1m

Central Oregon towns are racing to harness AI—chatbots now drafting press releases, rewriting websites, and sifting through documents—freeing staff for critical work. Bend and Deschutes County deploy secure tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot, enforce strict policies to catch AI errors or bias, and require staff to fact-check and disclose AI-generated content. As public-facing AI looms, officials are weighing risks like “hallucinations” against benefits, planning civic input sessions and pilot projects—like a county chatbot or AI-smoothed permits—to serve residents without sacrificing accuracy…