Improving How State and Local Governments Use AI

In considering whether to implement AI, McNeese advised state and city agencies to start by asking, "What's the problem?" or "What's the aspect of the organization that we want to enhance?"

"You do not want to introduce AI if there is not a specific need," said McNeese. "You don't want to implement AI because everyone else is."

The point was seconded by Venkatasubramanian. "If you have a problem that needs to be solved, figure out what people need to solve it," he said. "Maybe AI can be a part of it, maybe not. Don't start by asking, 'How can we bring AI to this?' That way leads to problems."

When AI is used, the report urges a human-centered approach to designing it - one that takes people's needs, wants, and motivations into account, explained McNeese.

Those who have domain expertise - employees who provide services of value to the public - should be involved in determining where AI tools might and might not be useful, said Venkatasubramanian. "It is really, really important to empower the people who have the expertise to understand the domain," he stressed.

The goal should be to create complementary human-AI teams that allow humans to focus on what they're good at by off-loading certain aspects of their jobs to AI, McNeese said. "We're not trying to use AI to replace humans."