Generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) is more than just a buzzword. It has the potential to be a useful tool in the toolbox for government agencies and presents new ways of working and engaging with residents. There’s a lot to consider. To get started, federal and state and local agencies must be upfront with defining gen AI. This lays the groundwork for transparency and knowledge-sharing with residents, as well as serves to understand how residents interact with government services and AI.

For governments, 2024 will be about exploring new ways of engaging with residents. By this time next year, the public sector will be updating transparency guidelines and providing clarity on how generative AI is being used when it comes to government interactions with residents. 

As machine learning accelerates with new human input on a near-constant basis, AI functions such as chatbots are becoming more “human” and articulate in their responses, being able to recognize “sentiment” in real time by interpreting voice, text and tone clues. 

This has implications for operational efficiency and personalization of experience. Government agencies will need to create transparency and effective data governance around how customer service is delivered and whether it’s a human or computer at the other end of the phone line.

Knowing who you are speaking to

Agencies are learning from the private sector when it comes to core challenges. In the gen AI space, attribution is a big one. When we speak to someone, we have the right to know if it’s a person or an AI agent. As technology adopts increasingly human characteristics, this discussion will become even more critical. Unlike the private sector, residents engaging with the government will demand to know who is talking with them— the rules of engagement are different. 

Reducing errors and improving accuracy

Like humans, AI is not perfect—yet. Implementation of generative AI must be handled carefully to avoid real-world impact on residents accessing vital services. By 2024 there will also be a better understanding of the technology and data management protocols in place to comprehensively safeguard against inaccuracies.

Safeguarding against system bias

Particularly as government data systems deal with sensitive personal data, any use of generative AI needs to be developed in a way that avoids systemic bias in the data set or customer relationship management software that governments use. As the technology evolves, a close eye should be kept on this through data management.