Chanhassen will begin using artificial intelligence in hopes of speeding up some staff work.

City Manager Laurie Hokkanen said Chanhassen lost a lot of institutional knowledge when employees retired in recent years, and she hopes the new technology will reduce the amount of time workers need to spend researching some issues. The City Council this week approved a $25,000 contract with Nevada-based Madison AI.

For example, Hokkanen said that if a worker wants to learn more about a particular piece of land, the new technology from Madison AI will be able to scan city records and send a synopsis of the history of the land and links to documents for parcels contained within it.

"I know how to find the answer to the question," Hokkanen said, but the program might find it faster.

She said city workers will still be responsible for fact-checking the materials produced by the program.