AI Applications in Government

AI Application for citizen-centered government services

As governments worldwide experiment with AI Application and explore for methods to deploy generative AI models, one fundamental question arises: How will citizens benefit? The public sector is named so because the public comes first. AI can improve daily services and bridge the gap between local government, its staff, and its population. It can do this through automating government services for citizens and improving agency communication with public service users.

AI could give businesses an edge over those hesitant to adopt machine learning, NLP, and generative capabilities. AI application cases now show how the technology may improve customer service. AI may have an even greater impact on the public sector. AI allows authorities to examine data fully and accurately to provide citizens with more tailored and effective services. This could involve reducing claim processing time or red tape for corporations and contractors that work with governments.

Consider an individual who wants inexpensive housing near a new job. This person’s local housing authority may use AI to automatically detect their requirements, determine which programs they’re eligible for, and contact them about them. An intelligent chatbot could help this user identify the customer application by skipping many questions about basic information citizens are obliged to supply because the system already knows it. AI-enhanced automation and efficiency could help government offices function as citizen hubs.

AI and automation for citizens

AI’s rapid development and accessibility make such a situation more likely than a few years ago. Technology is automating some processes, which could let public sector workers focus on the most essential challenges rather than repetitive, low-value ones. Possible outcome? Increased productivity and significant social benefits. A significant U.S. government found it was spending too much time sorting mail, fax, and internet claims. The slow manual labor delayed approval, thus beneficiaries weren’t getting their benefits on time. A few years ago, the VA reduced claim sorting time from 10 days to half a day by using AI.

A VA AI Institutional examine Board (IRB) pilot helps the department examine proposed AI initiatives. The VA’s AI IRB and Oversight Committee follow the White House’s 2022 AI “Bill of Rights” model to guide federal agencies’ AI deployment. The VA’s Artificial Intelligence Institutional Review Board and AI Oversight Committee evaluate the fairness and openness of employing AI technologies in research and clinical operations to determine how the department and its staff should utilize them.

Other governments, like the UK, are exploring the benefits and drawbacks of AI and have a national approach to its adoption.

From national to local services

Government entities routinely support new services when new laws are passed, regardless of their IT systems’ capacity. Streamlining and enhancing efficiency typically helps meet these expectations. Many national, regional, and local organizations face this challenge.

The 2021 U.S. economic stimulus bill helped citizens cope with the COVID-19 epidemic financially. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) swiftly anticipated the implications of that legislation and established a flexible, expedited application and adjudication process that allowed residents to apply for much needed financial support online.

DCA integrated a virtual assistant and NICE CXone IVR technology into their submission portal and call center to reduce call center workloads. The self-service capabilities of IBM’s Watson Assistant eliminated 6,200 calls each month, saving over 800 hours of waiting time.

What’s next?

Beyond articulating AI’s employment in civilian government functions, retaining public trust is crucial. IBM believes that no discussion of responsible AI in the public sector is complete without emphasizing the importance of ethical use of the technology throughout its lifecycle of design, development, use, and maintenance, with humans at the heart of government services and monitoring for responsible deployment using the five fundamental properties of trustworthy AI: explainability, fairness, transparency, robustness, and privacy.

IBM supports precision regulation that controls how this emergent technology is utilized, not the technology itself. IBM has always advocated for transparent and explainable AI technologies. These features will address many of the same issues as proposed copyright, privacy, and algorithmic bias legislation.

People worldwide want to know their data is safe and used as they consent. A 2020 Morning Consult study for the IBM Policy Lab found that roughly three in four Europeans and two-thirds of Americans support risk assessments, which test AI for bias to prevent prejudice in its decision-making. These numbers show that establishing a trustworthy AI foundation is a global priority.

In the future of government, AI will likely play a major role. Identifying the challenges it can solve and ethically deploying it to improve citizen services is now the priority. As the public sector explores AI and automation, there are various ways it might help society. Undoubtedly, it will be exciting to look back on government and realize how far technology has come and how many people it has benefitted.

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