The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as a rapidly evolving technology that will be incorporated into every aspect of government in the coming years to provide new efficiencies, informed decisions, and better services. It will be. But amidst all the exciting promises around us, With the promise of AI, a fundamental question looms large: Can slow-moving government organizations move fast enough to keep up?
The answer is yes, but only if governments build a deep culture of innovation. This poses a major challenge for public sector agencies that typically focus on procuring and implementing highly fixed or static solutions, such as large infrastructure projects, technology hardware, and public policy. did. To reach your full potential, learn how to be more creative, take responsibility and try new things, learn quickly, work across silos and communities, and adapt at a faster pace. need to learn. By embracing innovation Governments will be better able to embrace complex and nuanced interactions. Between AI, society, the environment, and the vision of humanity. To leverage this technology more effectively to tackle society’s most pressing challenges.
It’s no secret that AI is already being used in various ways in government. For example, the U.S. Department of Energy has developed an AI tool called . Estimation of transportation status ability. It is designed to give urban traffic engineers access to actionable information about a city’s traffic patterns and help urban planners improve traffic flow and reduce congestion. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses: emmais a virtual assistant that helps approximately 1 million immigration applicants each month find relevant pages and resources, saving DHS staff valuable time.
While using AI as an efficiency tool is a good start, the real potential of AI in the public sector lies in leveraging the technology. As a catalyst for innovation and change throughout the system level. The potential of AI is greater than chatbots. This means tackling major challenges such as: Transforming education, tackling climate change and ending homelessness.
Governments are looking for ways to start using AI to prevent cybersecurity attacks, process large amounts of data, monitor systems and infrastructure, and more, but AI is not locked into its current state of capability. It doesn’t stay that way. It changes virtually every day and becomes more complex. For example, Generative AI, an advanced field of AI with little oversight and little regulation, is rapidly expanding.recent reports Generative AI for cities governance Researchers note that AI is predicted to surpass human performance in many tasks around the world.
The next few decades include “driving trucks (until 2027), working in retail (until 2031), writing bestsellers (until 2049), and performing surgery (until 2053).” (Grace et al., 2018:3).
In the face of this rapid change and uncertainty, what governments need most to take advantage of this technology is a culture of innovation. Although there are many aspects to building a robust and effective innovation culture in government, there are three core principles that drive it.
The first is creative experimentation. Innovation often emerges from the intersection of seemingly unrelated things, so we empower our staff to step outside of constraints, make new connections between data in complex challenges, and adapt to evolving conditions. It’s important to build a culture that helps your staff be creative and empowered. Situations where there is no solution to generate new ideas that others have overlooked.
Additionally, when creative people are given the opportunity to experiment with unique ideas in a controlled environment, they can apply these ideas and become more responsible in the evolution of AI in federal agencies, states, and cities. You will be ready to proactively promote your efforts.For example, recent wired In this article, we discuss how the City of Boston recently introduced the use of enterprise-grade Bard to all government employees, encouraging employees to use this technology through “responsible experimentation” to improve government efficiency and effectiveness. We have introduced what we are encouraging. This type of proactive approach can help governments identify the risks and pitfalls associated with AI, and put safeguards and regulatory frameworks in place to mitigate negative impacts such as bias, privacy concerns, harm, and abuse. Learn how to develop quickly and scale your benefits for better outcomes. Government services that improve people’s lives.
Second, governments need to approach AI from the perspective of residents, businesses, and other people they serve, and engage them as co-creators. Successfully leveraging AI to tackle complex government problems like security, housing, education, and health care cannot be solved in a bubble. To bring about change in complex spaces, we need to understand problems from diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise, and approach them from a systems level. This means bringing together not only government officials across departments, but also community members across sectors to triangulate solutions that get to the root of challenges through co-created solutions.
To emphasize the need to do this across the government, President Biden issued the following statement: executive order “Governments must take responsibility for designing and delivering services that focus on the lived experiences of the people they serve.” The Department of Homeland Security takes this seriously. Comprehensive customer experience program Led by experts from across the industry, advocacy groups, academic institutions, governments, and other interested communities, we are improving the airport security experience, reducing processing times for immigration benefits, and reducing disaster relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Streamline the process of applying for and receiving. agency. By jointly understanding system-wide challenges and opportunities, governments can more effectively leverage the power of AI to drive innovative solutions that are human-centered and address real rather than perceived needs. You will be able to do it.
Finally, governments need to implement and normalize cycles of iterative learning. As this technology grows and changes rapidly, governments need to be able to respond as well. This means leveraging mindsets and implementing processes that help staff learn how to pivot when faced with unexpected challenges, information, and technology. This means leveraging tools like rapid prototyping and testing to quickly try out new ideas with affected people in a controlled environment. For example, the Department of Veterans Affairs VHA Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE), Simulation Learning, Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Network (SimLEARN), and Center for Care and Payment Innovation (CCPI) systems to create immersive learning experiences that create cutting-edge advances and drive growth. Accelerate and drive change in healthcare.
This comprehensive approach to learning quickly allows governments to understand how people interact with systems, services, products, policies, etc., and to improve them before investing resources in building them. You’ll learn how to do it quickly. As AI technology grows, this mindset will be critical to quickly adjusting approaches and leveraging the technology to address the opportunities and challenges that arise now and in the future.
In a rapidly changing world, building a culture of innovation within government is important not only for individuals seeking personal growth and development within an organization, but also for organizations aiming to effectively address complex challenges. Very valuable. By conducting creative experiments, engaging the broader community as co-creators, and embracing cycles of learning and iteration, governments can leverage a culture of innovation and responsibly get the most out of AI. You will be able to explore new ways. As we face the incredibly difficult problems before us, instilling a culture of innovation will help governments leverage AI to transform the world as we know it. It helps generate breakthroughs in operations, policy, services and outcomes.