It’s unlikely you’ll see government rush artificial intelligence (AI) tools to deployment, a state technology leader and Microsoft officials said Monday at California Digital Transformation Week in Sacramento. That’s because the public sector realizes its responsibility to be ethical and diligent in implementations, and to make moves that will benefit the residents it serves.
The Secretary of State’s Eureka chatbot and the city of Los Angeles’ activation of its Chip chatbot are two recent AI deployments that are already live. But panelists during a discussion of “AI in Government” agreed the public sector has much to consider before diving into AI. Among the takeaways:
• A primary issue isn’t necessarily an emerging technology itself, but rather, the impact it will create, said state CIO Amy Tong, who joined Microsoft’s Global Innovation Team Lead Eric Egland and moderator Stuart McKee, Microsoft chief technology officer for state and local government, on the panel. Social responsibility is “especially pivotal,” Tong said, calling herself “the first one to admit” that wholesale utilization of AI at the state level isn’t there yet.
“And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I actually think that it’s just showing that we’re taking the time that we need to be very purposeful and diligent about this decision,” Tong said.
• Having said that, the state is exploring using AI to streamline repetitive processes. The California Department of Technology is using its California Innovation Lab, Tong said, to look at applying a robotic process automation (RPA) bot to assist in employee onboarding, because those types of services are more back office and “less risky in terms of constituent impact,” but very repetitive, the CIO said.
“[It's] similar to where you are comparing invoice to payout. Every single department is going to need to do that. And those are the things we felt were a small enough bite but impactful enough that could increase efficiency,” Tong said.
• Egland said chatbots are the No. 1 use case for how government is deploying AI, while recognizing its power to “influence the citizenry, the public’s, daily life and being very careful.” Sometimes, as with the Secretary of State’s Eureka deployment, one chatbot begets another.
“What’s neat is, once that story started catching on, we saw the state of North Carolina take it to the next level,” Egland said, indicating the Eastern state identified the potential in California’s usage to drill down on the roughly 50 percent of its own 3,000 weekly IT help desk calls that were password reset-related.
And in Santa Clara County, where tech is led by CIO Ann Dunkin, former federal EPA CIO, Egland said the agency leveraged Dispatch through Microsoft Azure to develop a “bot of bots,” to direct online queries across more than 30 departments with public-facing websites.
“It’s neat to see the follow-on implications. That cascading effect is really exciting, to see how people are using it,” Egland said.
• Asked how AI might help facilitate some of the change that Gov. Gavin Newsom has mentioned since taking office in January, Tong said officials need to see “what that North Star is,” and focus on responsible utilization and adoption. Self-recognition in government — looking for and finding those ways to use AI to eliminate repetitive processes or boost staff participation — is key, she said.
“I think those are the conversations and the stage we’re at right now. And it’s a journey; I believe it’s a much needed journey to start with there, so that the buy-in, the adoption, the willingness, the openness are in place as we adopt AI in the future,” Tong said.
