JANESVILLE — After an exhaustive interview process including candidates from all over the country, the City of Janesville has decided on another option for its open City Manager role: artificial intelligence.

Janesville would be the first city to entrust either a City Manager or Mayoral position to AI.

“Janesville has always been a city marked by ingenuity. This decision is simply a continuation of that,” read a press release from the city.

The city will use Claude, a next-generation AI assistant, to fill the position, saving the city between $240,000-$275,000 per year. That number is based on the approved salary range on the job listing.

Janesville residents have been vocal about their desire for a candidate currently living in the city, rather than an outsider with limited knowledge of the culture and history throughout the area. The City of Janesville argued in its release that Claude would help in that regard.

“Just in our preliminary tests, Claude has shown its immense knowledge regarding Janesville and what makes it unique,” a city staffer told the Globe. “We asked it the best place to grab a bite to eat, and it told us that Layne’s Chicken Fingers is a lovely spot that is quintessential Janesville. How did it even know that?”

Janesville hopes to be the first in a long line of future adopters of language learning models serving in executive-level positions. If it works, the city expects many similar-sized communities to reach out in hopes of lowering the tax burdens that many are facing.