Generative AI for Governments

Since the release of ChatGPT, Generative AI has been on everyone’s mind. GenAI takes a set of data and uses it to create something new – like a text, an email, an image or a voice. For legislators, it raises pressing questions on how to govern emerging risks such as the increase of misinformation, data privacy concerns and copyright infringements. Less on the radar of public debate but equally important is the discussion on how GenAI revolutionizes governments’ internal and external workflows. In this blog post, we focus on the latter and outline how GenAI impacts the operating model of public sector organisations. Additionally, we provide insights on how Salesforce can support Public Sector Customers to get GenAI future-proof.

The six most common ways GenAI will change how governments operate

A new survey of more than 500 senior IT leaders reveals that a majority (67%) are prioritizing generative AI with one-third (33%) naming it as a top priority. They believe the technology has the potential to help them better serve their stakeholders, take advantage of data, and operate more efficiently. With these promising outcomes, the question is how GenAI can concretely play a role in the government context. Based on conversations with government officials worldwide we developed six categories of GenAI use cases in government:

• Drive Productivity – GenAI will not replace workflows but will make them more efficient. For instance, researching and generating text for reporting requirements (meeting briefings, etc.) can become much faster. Alternatively, when working on citizen’s service requests, GenAI can assist government employees with frequently asked questions.
• Enhance Policy Impact Assessment – With GenAI data analysis can be democratised and government programmes can more easily be adjusted to achieve the impacts they intended. Currently, when providing services, grants or regulations governments often have a limited view of the effects. Data is limited, difficult to find or difficult to assess and often left to external experts. 
• Detect bias & provide transparency – GenAI can support employees in detecting bias in decision-making processes and in making information available to constituents in an accessible manner. In everything they do (providing services and grants, issuing licenses, etc.) governments need to be unbiased, fair and transparent. 
• Enable frictionless Digital Access – The use of current chatbots is limited to only a few types of questions. With GenAI, citizens can ask more open-ended questions, increasing trust and proximity between governments and their constituents without putting additional burdens on government employees.   
• Facilitate Citizen Services – When engaging, GenAI can also help citizens discover service options they previously did not know existed. A precondition is that they provide an overview of their current circumstances that trigger support in the form of grants, licenses, permissions, etc.
• Support Policy-Making – GenAI allows policy-makers to gain a more nuanced understanding of societal challenges which in turn may provide for a more fact-based foundation in making policy.

What can governments do to get GenAI-ready?

To make the most of GenAI, governments need to have a solid digital operating model, an outcome-oriented strategy and a training schedule in place:

• Data – Data is fuel for AI — without high-quality, trusted data, it becomes ‘garbage in, garbage out.’Managing data is the most important action an organisation can take to successfully implement GenAI. However, many organisations lack an understanding of their data, let alone have a data strategy in place.
• Strategy – PubSec Organisations need to assess the maturity of their digital operating model to define GenAI readiness; develop a strategy containing goals and guidelines for the use of GenAI; and redefine their organisational culture to make sure that GenAI is having the intended impact. A solid strategy also needs to account for managing risks that come with GenAI including hallucinations and deepfakes.
• Talent – the disruption changes triggered by GenAI raise many questions on risks linked to the use of GenAI. Therefore, it is important to train government employees on what GenAI is, how to prompt it and how to use it ethically and within existing legislative frameworks.

Without a clear approach to those three focus areas, the positive effects of GenAI will be limited.  

Salesforce as a trusted partner

Salesforce has a track record of delivering tangible, usable AI applications and is a trusted advisor to public agencies on how to leverage AI. Salesforce can be your trusted advisor to make the most out of GenAI by providing: 

• 360 view on Data – Salesforce has a proven track record in providing solutions to connect data silos and enabling people to use data to power their day-to-day operations. This is both an important precondition for the use of GenAI and a way to keep control of generated results.    
• GenAI powered workflows – With Public Sector Solutions Salesforce provides a tailored product suite to support governments with their core mission workflows such as: constituent engagement & outreach, provision of services, grants and licenses and carrying out inspections. Currently, we are in the process of updating our products with GenAI to support both case workers and citizens to become more efficient when conducting these workflows.   
• Strategic Foundation – Salesforce has built and researched large language models for several years. Apart from dedicated products we built a holistic GenAI strategy including amongst others a  framework for: trusted AI principles for GenAI, GenAI partner ecosystem approach, open source solutions and contribution to research. Based on our own learnings we can provide dedicated guidance to our customers on how to build out their own strategy.  
• GenAI Training Platform – Salesforce provides the right tools to educate employees on what GenAI is. More importantly with our solutions, staff can be trained hands-on on how to embed GenAI into existing workflows and technology whilst mitigating legal and ethical risks.

How does generative AI impact your organisation? Are you looking to build an ethical framework to support decision-making on AI, or are you looking to evolve your digital operating model to ensure effective applications of data and AI? Contact us to learn Salesforce best practices to accelerate your path to value.