ATARC Federal AI Summit 2024: Cost Challenges; No Workforce Disruptions; and Streamlining Manual Processes
It is widely understood that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform how government agencies operate and deliver services. However, government needs to balance the complexities of the technology to bring AI use cases to life.
In late February, ATARC hosted its AI Summit 2024, which addressed the challenges and opportunities around AI, and shined a light on where government actually is when it comes to AI adoption.
Alex Spithas, Director of Project Integration at Makpar, attended ATARC’S Federal AI Summit 2024, and came back with several key learnings, as well as insights from several government speakers that are worthy of spotlighting:
Cost is a Challenge: Despite many successful pilots in play, cost is still an impediment to AI adoption across federal agencies. It is imperative that each program demonstrates value, and the cost-challenge reinforces how ubiquitous AI across government will take time.
AI is Not Replacing the Federal Workforce: In fact, many agencies are looking to use AI to help supplement the existing workforce and even use it to help employees chart their career paths. For example, the State Department has demonstrated an AI-driven project that identifies individual career paths for employees that integrates with its learning management systems for optimal training.
Uses Cases Around Streamlining Manual Processes: While there is some demand for private large language models (LLMs) in the form of chatbots, a key emerging use case is around streamlining processes. This focuses on reducing time spent on tasks and making decisions, while not fully automating the tasks themselves.
In terms of the bigger picture, the speakers addressed a wide-range of ethical and societal implications around AI. For example, here are some quotes from the event’s speakers:
“AI technology is simply a manifestation of the relationship with knowledge we want to have at speed, depth and scale,” said Alexis Bonnell Chief Information Officer and Director, Digital Capabilities Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, U.S. Air Force.
“AI is only going to ultimately reflect the best or worst of who we are. Lets not make the trust issue simply an AI problem. This is a bigger problem,” said Alexis Bonnell.
“Each of you will make a minimum of 5 times more decisions now than you did 2 to 3 years ago,” said Alexis Bonnell.
“We’re going to have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. We may no longer have ‘the right decision’; it’s the ‘right decision for now,’" said Alexis Bonnell.
“If we have to adapt to a changing paradigm, we have to allow people to exercise their curiosity,” said Alexis Bonnell.
“When you have legacy platforms and siloed IT, you end up with multiple versions of the truth within your enterprise,” said Donald Bauer, Chief Technology Officer, Bureau of Global Talent Management, U.S. Department of State.
With regards to Alexis Bonnell’s quote about being “comfortable with the uncomfortable” regarding AI, in order to make the right decision for now, government leaders must be equipped with the most reliable data to make a decision as fast as possible.
In addition, capturing, consolidating, and synthesizing this information historically has been time consuming, prone to error and is reliant too heavily on human involvement.
One of the key themes from the event was that AI should be used to augment human intelligence. For example, a decision that required two to three days to make can now be made in minutes by empowering people with the information needed to inform those decisions.
As AI use cases in government continue to emerge, it is clear that it will be a core foundation of government IT moving forward. Based on the discussions from this event, government is starting to embrace AI in ways that augment workloads and processes.
Watch the full ATARC Federal AI Summit 2024 here.
Makpar offers the following AI informational resources to help agencies fully embrace AI for mission success:
PODCAST: Breaking Down President Biden’s AI Executive Order with AI Experts
INFOGRAPHIC: DHS Expanded AI Use Cases Show “Art of What’s Possible”
PODCAST: A Candid Take on Impact of ChatGPT on Government IT
PODCAST: Addressing Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Security Challenges for Government
If you would like to learn more about how Makpar can help your agency develop the most comprehensive AI solutions for enhancing mission success, please contact us here.