Callers to Mapo-gu's duty office on nights and holidays will now hear: "Hello, this is the AI consultation bot for Mapo-gu District Office." The bot identifies complaint types and routes them accordingly — handling routine inquiries and logging reports, while transferring urgent or on-site cases to a duty officer. It handles multiple calls simultaneously and logs all conversations automatically. A three-month pilot runs through December, with full operation set for 2027.
An "AI duty officer" is coming to Mapo-gu — ready to field resident complaints late at night and on holidays, even after district office hours end.
Mapo-gu will become the first of Seoul's 25 autonomous districts to deploy an AI-powered voice bot for after-hours and holiday phone inquiries, with a three-month pilot running from October through December.
The AI duty voice bot is an interactive telephone service that converses with callers to identify their needs, then provides guidance or logs a complaint accordingly. The district has developed standardized response scenarios for each complaint type, enabling the system to handle everything from simple information requests to formal complaint registration and transfers to on-duty staff.
During duty hours — weekday evenings, weekends and public holidays — callers to the Mapo-gu duty office will be connected to the AI voice bot immediately, with no hold time.
For inquiries about department phone numbers or administrative procedures, the AI provides the relevant information on the spot. For matters the duty office cannot handle directly — such as after-hours medical clinics and pharmacies, water main leaks or outages, or noise between floors — the bot directs callers to the appropriate agency or explains how to file a report.
For everyday complaints such as illegal parking, construction noise or uncollected garbage, the AI engages the caller in conversation to confirm the location and details before logging the report. In an illegal parking case, for example, the bot first asks for the vehicle's location, then gathers additional available information such as the make and license plate number before registering it as an on-site enforcement complaint.
Cases requiring immediate on-site inspection — such as road subsidence or damaged manhole covers — are transferred to a duty officer, while genuine emergencies such as fires or dangerous animal sightings are directed to the relevant authorities, including 119 or 112 as appropriate.
When the AI logs a complaint, it sends the caller a text message summarizing the registered details once the call ends, allowing them to verify the information.
The voice bot can handle multiple incoming calls simultaneously and automatically records every conversation. This is expected to cut wait times for callers and prevent details from being lost in the handoff process, improving follow-up handling.
By handling routine and repetitive inquiries first, the AI is also expected to ease the call-handling burden on duty staff, freeing them to focus on situations that require a direct response, such as disasters or safety incidents.
The district will use the three-month pilot to assess the system's accuracy and usability in real complaint-handling situations. After gathering feedback from departments and duty staff at the end of December, it plans to refine the system before launching full operations in January 2027.
"We will use AI technology so that residents can get the guidance they need without waiting, even late at night or on holidays," Mapo-gu District Mayor Yoo Dong-gyun said. "We will keep improving the system so that AI handles simple, repetitive inquiries quickly, while staff can focus more on urgent cases and those that require a direct response."
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