Nonprofit program offers public agencies a way to build and test AI solutions
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Now in its second year, the AI Learning and Innovation Hub aims to build public agencies’ confidence in deploying the technology in critical government services.
For local jurisdictions operating on small staff and budgets, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence can be a herculean feat. That’s why a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C, is offering an innovation hub for public agencies to build and test artificial intelligence models to get their ideas off the ground.
The AI Learning and Innovation Hub, led by the nonprofit Social Finance and HumanServices.ai, is now in its second year after concluding its inaugural cohort in December. The hub offers participants a platform where they can test and develop their own AI tools for modernizing and optimizing government operations, said Amber Ivey, vice president of impact advisory at Social Finance.
Through the hub, supported by a share of a $6 million grant from GitLab Foundation, participants can also access a prompt library where they can share their own AI tools or adopt another organization’s project and adapt it to their own needs, helping cut out the red tape of researching and developing such solutions on their own or managing various vendors’ products, she said.
More broadly, the hub aims to build the public sector’s confidence in wielding AI as the demand for modernization and efficiency in an increasingly digital world continues to grow, Ivey said.
While the private sector may be able to “run fast and break things” to explore AI’s capabilities, many public sector agencies face barriers like a lack of funding, staff and resources to do so, particularly as their products and services directly impact their residents’ lives and tax dollars, she explained.
“Cities are … more apprehensive to use something [like] AI, but AI is definitely here,” said Lori Zamora, assistant to the executive director of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Office.
That’s why a testing ground like the AI Learning and Innovation Hub is important for public agencies to better understand how the technology works so they can more effectively and confidently design their own solutions, Ivey said.
During the organization’s inaugural cohort last year, for example, the San Antonio Workforce Development Office explored how artificial intelligence could bolster the outreach and marketing efforts of the department’s San Antonio Ready to Work program.
The workforce development program offers residents job training and education assistance to find employment, said Lori Zamora, assistant to the executive director of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Office.
With more than 15,000 residents funneling through the $200 million program, leaders are keen to “become more efficient with our dollars,” and that’s where officials see where “data use and AI technology [could] create more efficiencies for our residents that we serve,” Zamora said.
As part of the cohort, the San Antonio Workforce Development Office leveraged the hub’s resources to build and test a chatbot to address resident’s questions and inquiries about the workforce development program.
The AI chatbot is particularly helpful for people reentering the program who may need more specific information about reengaging with the city’s service, which helps offload the burden of a staff member to field “concerns and questions on every small thing,” Zamora explained. One employee, for example, helped develop prompts and responses based on what they would say personally to a program participant.
Through the program, the city developed an AI tool that enhances media monitoring functions for the office to better evaluate its public outreach campaigns. The tool, for instance, leverages geolocation to assess how efforts like ads and flyers performed in certain ZIP codes, Zamora said. Such insights are helping workforce development leaders better deploy and target outreach strategies, particularly in communities where marketing has not reached.
The city’s experience with the AI hub has inspired officials to consider other areas where AI could be deployed, such as helping San Antonio’s contract and compliance team manage tedious tasks like processing invoices, Zamora said.
The next cohort will focus on supporting agencies’ efforts to leverage AI to address administrative burdens, like evaluating and reducing error rates, that are likely to result from the new work requirements under HR 1, Ivey said.
Indeed, programs like the AI hub help “plug gaps” in AI exploration and “make sure [governments] have what they need to make sure they feel comfortable applying AI to something that’s very sensitive, which is often public benefits, workforce and decisions that affect people’s lives … and well-being,” she said.