To find out, say, what height of fence is allowed on their property, a Kelowna homeowner used to have to flip through 400 pages of bylaws.

Now, people with zoning and permitting questions can ask KAI — the city's own AI chatbot — and have it guide them through the application process.

"It is really the future when it comes to housing and permitting processes in a lot of fast-growing cities," said Ryan Smith, Kelowna's planning director.

In 2021, more than a year before ChatGPT was released to the public, the City of Kelowna began working with Microsoft to develop the KAI chatbot and other tools that help streamline operations and aid the effort to build more infill housing.

Smith said the idea of a city creating its own chatbot was "a little bit wild" at the time. But with the support

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