{"id":645593,"date":"2026-10-30T06:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T06:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/645593\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T06:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T06:26:13","slug":"parties-power-tools-top-noise-complaints-in-aucklands-new-ai-reporting-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/645593\/","title":{"rendered":"Parties, power tools: Top noise complaints in Auckland’s new AI-reporting tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Noise issues are the most reported complaints received on Auckland Council\u2019s artificial intelligence assistant tool, especially during the weekends.<\/p>\n

By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting<\/p>\n

The AI-enabled tool, Ask Auckland Council, was launched in April to help improve how people reported common issues to the council.<\/p>\n

The three most common types of noise complaints received since January have been residential \u2013 from people and party noise \u2013 construction and building alarms.<\/p>\n

In the six months to September, more than 5000 reports were received complaining about people or party noise.<\/p>\n

\"Beer<\/p>\n

Beer generic (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s licensing and environmental health special operations manager, Veronica Lee-Thompson, advised people to be mindful of noise and to be considerate of their neighbours, especially with the approach of summer.<\/p>\n

“Summer is a popular time for outdoor gatherings, barbecues, parties, DIY projects and property maintenance, but excessive noise can have a significant impact on those living nearby,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Being a good neighbour can be as simple as letting neighbours know in advance if you’re planning a party or noisy work, keeping music and entertainment at a reasonable level, and avoiding the use of loud equipment such as chainsaws and power tools early in the morning or late in the evening.”<\/p>\n

\"Friends<\/p>\n

Friends having a barbecue party (file image). (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Lee-Thompson said excessive noise could be reported at any time through Ask Auckland Council, or by calling 09 301 0101 while the noise was occurring.<\/p>\n

“Residents can also help reduce noise by keeping doors and windows closed where practical, positioning speakers away from neighbouring properties, and ensuring burglar and car alarms are working correctly.<\/p>\n

“And, most importantly: turning the volume down at a reasonable hour.”<\/p>\n

More than 13,000 problems have been logged on Ask Auckland Council, averaging 489 reports a week and up to 300 interactions a day, according to a six-month progress report tabled at Thursday\u2019s Value for Money Committee meeting.<\/p>\n

Illegal dumping, graffiti, roaming dogs, missed bin collections, tree issues and litter were all reportable.<\/p>\n

The online tool \u2013 accessible on a smartphone, computer or tablet \u2013 helped save users around nine minutes compared to calling the contact centre.<\/p>\n

Uptake was the highest for graffiti reports, with 46% submitted through Ask Auckland Council.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A discarded spraycan with graffiti. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

Customer experience general manager Jon Andrews told the committee they were anticipating an increase of users during the summer period.<\/p>\n

Committee chairwoman and deputy mayor Desley Simpson said the progress update was positive, and there was a shift from the call centre to the online tool.<\/p>\n

With Ask Auckland Council, people could describe the problem in their own words or with a photo, and the AI identified the type of issue, and helped get the report to the right place.<\/p>\n

Simpson asked staff to report back to the committee in November with a road map for the next six months, to give Aucklanders confidence to use the tool over summer \u2013 a time where there usually were overflowing bins, summer parties and noise complaints.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noise issues are the most reported complaints received on Auckland Council\u2019s artificial intelligence assistant tool, especially during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[365,363,364,51,111,139,69,145],"class_list":["post-645593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-auckland","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}