Gwangju's AI Dangjigi — Replacing 122 Monthly On-Call Staff Shifts With an AI Duty Officer That Resolves 86% of Complaint Calls

In August 2024, Gwangju Metropolitan City replaced its traditional civil-servant duty-rotation system — which required roughly 122 employees each month to staff overnight and holiday shifts — with 'AI Dangjigi' ('AI Duty Officer'), an AI system that answers citizens' after-hours complaint calls, classifies them, and either resolves routine queries directly or routes the call to the relevant department.

Two independent progress reports tracked its performance over time: Newsis reported on the system's first seven months (to February 2025) and the Financial News (fnnews.com) reported on its first eleven months (to June 2025).

As of February 2025, the system had received 9,853 calls and handled 84% independently (768 public-transit complaints and 5,941 simple inquiries resolved directly, 1,563 transferred to departments), and the daily average of complaint calls needing staff attention fell from 20 to 8. By June 2025, cumulative volume had grown to 21,648 calls with an 86% resolution rate (18,540 calls), including 1,168 transit complaints and 14,899 simple inquiries, with 2,473 calls transferred to five district offices, the water authority, the disaster safety centre and the construction department. Mayor Kang Ki-jung credited the system with resolving the staffing gaps created by compensatory time off after duty shifts and improving response consistency. The reporting is city-sourced rather than independently audited, and does not disclose citizen satisfaction, error rates, or the AI system's own operating costs.