CRITICAL SERVICES
CITIZEN THE EMERGING Advantages and Challenges of Human-Machine Service Delivery Will Healy, Ernest Sohn, and Santiago Milian Contributions from Jeff Leon, Melanie Laffin, and Dia Metropolis EXPERIENCE
A s our nation’s most critical service provider, the Federal Government is navigating fast-changing customer expectations. Along with commercial organizations, agencies are rapidly investing in AI-powered tools— from user interfaces to software platforms on the back end—to augment and streamline critical citizen services. Unlike in consumer culture, however, customer experience in the Federal Government is not a matter of competitive advantage or profit optimization, but it can make or break the mission of delivering vital services and benefits. And for citizens, the value of service delivery can significantly impact a person’s life—whether that involves seeking health benefits, finding shelter and food, or looking for employment. Here we explore the opportunities and nuances inherent in AI innovation for the citizen experience.
AI for Citizen Experience AI capabilities, such as natural language processing, have been part of government services for years, providing transformative support to citizens—from the Department of Veterans Affairs analyzing free- text data to identify veterans at risk of suicide or homelessness to Recreation.gov using voice recognition to analyze customers’ speech and triage their questions (see “Spotlight on Recreation.gov”). Emerging advances in AI and large language models are rapidly enhancing tools, such as citizen-facing chatbots, and finding new use cases—from helping with data interoperability and improving search functions to providing personalized recommendations. As agencies advance their use of AI to modernize and streamline the citizen experience, they will need to weigh new challenges and considerations, given the unique and critical services they deliver to the American public.
58
59
VELOCITY | © 2023 BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON
Powered by FlippingBook