Partnership for Public Service launches AI Center for Government

The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that looks to build a better government, on Tuesday announced its new AI Center for Government, an effort to promote artificial intelligence across all levels of government including state and local.

The center will focus on developing AI leaders in the public sector, building workforce and talent at agencies, increasing AI literacy and allowing government employees and leaders to come together and share information and best practices about the technology as they implement it. The effort is backed by Microsoft and Google.org, the latter company’s philanthropic arm.

It comes at a crucial time for AI in government, leaders said at an event at the partnership’s Washington, D.C., offices to mark the center’s launch. An increasing number of agencies at all levels are implementing AI for various use cases and training their employees on how to use it effectively. Having a place for them to come and share ideas, learn from each other and build leadership capabilities is another step on that journey.

“The AI center is designed to help federal, state and local executives really understand what it means to lead the world of AI, and provide that support and provide information to those leaders so that you can lead confidently in a world that is changing very, very quickly,” said Jennifer Ives, vice president of AI and innovation at the Partnership for Public Service, on stage at the event.

A recent survey showed that public sector employees are becoming more comfortable with the idea of using AI in their work. Karen Dahut, CEO of Google Public Sector, said on stage that adoption will accelerate as more agencies see how the technology can serve their mission and help their residents. Already, she said it has made an impact in areas like information discovery, including in some military branches that use it to help quickly locate procedures and policies.

“The truth is, every mission, big or small, faces a similar set of challenges: limited resources, tight deadlines, complex problems,” Dahut said. “They're always there, regardless of the mission. And AI, I believe, offers a way to break through that and to break through those constraints, giving every mission owner a superpower; a way to turbo charge their mission through common sense technology that makes a difference for them.”

AI is helping governments be more efficient and responsive to their residents’ needs, making the public sector more agile. That includes via modernization initiatives that allow for quicker license processing, navigating public benefits programs and connecting residents with information that they otherwise would have to call a contact center to receive. Technology enables these human problems to be solved, speakers said.

“While we talk a lot about technology, this isn't a tech issue,” said Angela Heise, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of worldwide public sector, on stage. “This is a human issue. It's a people issue. It's how we bring citizen-centric services to our citizens in a way that makes it easy for them to interact with governments, makes it easy for them to trust governments and to get the absolutely lifesaving and life changing services that they need on a day-to-day basis.”

And there is evidence that governments at various levels are now moving beyond purely learning about the technology to devising policies to govern its use and implement use cases. Nishant Shah, Maryland’s senior advisor for responsible AI, said during a panel discussion that around 20 to 25 state officials in similar roles to his will meet monthly and learn from each other.

He said that states are also getting much better at collaborating and sharing information on AI, so that there is “less and less reinventing the wheel” and more “learning by doing.”

“Folks are getting a bit more sophisticated, and we're moving beyond just talking about principles and approaches here, to actually being in the weeds of operationalizing this technology, understanding operating models, doing proofs of concept and running those proofs of concept into scale production systems,” Shah said.

A lot of work lies ahead, however. New York City Chief Technology Officer Matthew Fraser said on stage that it may be tempting to abandon AI initiatives if they receive bad headlines. He urged government leaders to “dare to be bold,” both in what they try to achieve and how they get their sometimes-reluctant employees on board.

“That boldness doesn't come just from defending on the front line, but it's also pushing your teams to embrace new technology, not for their sake, but for the sake of the people that they serve,” Fraser said.

Leaders warned that AI will only grow in importance, so it is paramount to stay ahead of the curve, especially to keep the U.S. competitive with other countries that are investing heavily in the technology.

“We’re behind the game,” said Max Stier, the Partnership for Public Service’s president and CEO. “[We] not only have to catch up, but this is accelerating.”