Public-facing AI tools could yield more efficiency gains for states, report says
SmileStudioAP via Getty Images
States should not underestimate the time and cost savings that external artificial intelligence-based tools can generate for government agencies, one expert said.
State tech leaders have been busy brainstorming ways to incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities into agencies’ and their staff’s operations. While the tech has demonstrated its usefulness to streamline benefits administration, optimize audits and forecast natural disasters, a new policy brief suggests that state leaders may be missing out on fully leveraging artificial intelligence’s potential.
Earlier this year, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced that the state is partnering with OpenAI to deploy an AI assistant tool within the state’s executive branch, which includes approximately 40,000 staff members. State leaders anticipate that staff will leverage the AI assistant for tasks like drafting reports, summarizing documents or researching work-related things.
Several other states, like Maryland, New Jersey, Utah and Vermont, have already deployed similar AI assistants to support state employees with tasks like drafting reports, summarizing documents and others.
“AI use cases often help employees be more efficient at their current work, which is good, but this efficiency may take the place of transforming the work itself,” a policy brief released last week by the Pioneer Institute, a Massachusetts-based think tank, reads. “This sometimes results in missed opportunities to save even more money, think differently about the process of a program, or fix problems.”
There is opportunity for Massachusetts and other states to take AI’s potential further to achieve efficiency gains beyond reducing the time to complete administrative tasks, said Gary Blank, author of the brief and senior fellow for government effectiveness at Pioneer Institute.
While internal AI tools can help streamline and expedite agency operations, “other forms of AI can be a lot more transformative,” Blank said.
Take, for example, external AI services, such as chatbots or other tools state residents can leverage on their own, he said. Such resources can help residents address and resolve their own inquiries that could have otherwise held up an agency staff member, keeping them from fulfilling higher value responsibilities.
Public-facing AI tools also offer residents 24/7 access to online services or answers to their questions that can be translated to several languages for increased accessibility, Blank explained. These factors can help reduce burden on state agencies by, for example, diverting resident touchpoints from call centers to an AI tool they can access on their own device.
Massachusetts only has three AI use cases designed for external users, including the state’s virtual assistant at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, according to the brief. Launched last year, the RMV AI chatbot has helped more than 300,000 customers and reduced calls to the agency by 1,000 daily.
The other two external AI applications are grants navigators for local governments to find and apply for federal grants and for small businesses and organizations to search for grant opportunities within the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
In comparison, Massachusetts has nearly 20 internal AI applications, Blank said. This gap presents one way Massachusetts and other states in similar positions can leverage AI to further promote efficiency in programs and services when both staff and residents can be involved in the process, Blank said. Agencies can, for example, analyze customer experience data to determine how an existing AI tool can be enhanced or if there is a need for a new application could fill.
Offering AI services to the public can bring state tech leaders closer to the people they serve, helping officials better understand residents’ needs to ultimately translate them into more effective tech applications and services, he explained.
Indeed, accepting feedback surrounding AI tools being used by staff and residents is a critical lever for states to further make the most out of the new and evolving technology, according to the brief.
“AI is a new technology and a new way of working,” the brief states. “The challenge now is how agencies take advantage of it.”