The GovBrief

In the world of AI, there’s no quick fix for mitigating bias. Quite the opposite: To truly achieve insightful outcomes, today’s government IT leaders must continuously check and monitor their data. Never has that been more important than it is today — at a time when the supply chain is especially vulnerable to attack. And with so many players in the government IT space, securing the supply chain will require all hands on deck.

In this third and final episode of Machine Morality, we discuss how government agencies and their industry partners can more effectively protect their critical infrastructure.

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Maps are everywhere. Whether navigating to and from the office or analyzing location-specific threats from foreign adversaries, government and defense leaders rely on geospatial intelligence systems, or GIS, to glean real-time insights that help them to make decisions.

These AI-powered digital maps offer visualizations and analytics many of us couldn’t imagine just five or 10 years ago. But, as with all data-powered technologies, agencies need to ensure they’re tapping up-to-date, robust information to fuel their GIS tools and making use of best practices around data use and maintenance. For example, who is training the data used to populate these maps? And how are inherent and unconscious biases impacting their quality?

That’s the obstacle we’ll tackle on this episode of Machine Morality, a podcast from Esri and GovExec’s Studio 2G where we get to the bottom of some of government’s biggest ethical AI challenges. On this episode, we'll hear from defense and industry leaders who spoke at the recent webcast, ”AI and Ethics: Integrity and Geospatial Analytics.”

Check it out.

Today’s government agencies are tasked with providing quality experiences and services to their constituents. More and more, that requires the implementation of AI and automated tools, from chatbots and virtual assistants to enhanced mapping and monitoring capabilities.

These innovations empower government agencies to do more with less, and more importantly, provide citizens and staff with services where and when they need them.

But there’s a bit of a caveat here. While AI has all this potential, it also comes with a number of risks and challenges. Incomplete data sets and human error during the data training process can lead to biased algorithms.

If we’re not careful, AI can end up doing more harm than good.

So, how can government agencies prevent these biases while continuing to innovate?

Introducing Machine Morality, a new podcast from Esri and GovExec’s Studio 2G, where we’ll get to the bottom of some of government’s biggest ethical AI challenges. In this three-part series, we’ll

listen in as experts on AI and ethics from government and industry alike discuss how defense and intelligence leaders can strategically implement the latest AI tools and technologies, while ensuring the technology is used in a way that serves all populations fairly and equally.

This episode will draw from a recent webcast from Defense One and INSA, underwritten by Esri, titled “AI and Ethics: Mitigating Unwanted Bias” in which experts discuss some of today’s most pressing hurdles for AI in government — and how we can begin to address them together.

Check it out.

Health is all about building daily habits. Whether it’s what we eat, how many hours of sleep we get or how often we exercise, the choices we make have a lasting impact on our overall wellness.

With 2022 upon us, government employees are laser-focused on choosing health coverage that meets their needs. But the new year is also an opportunity to set new goals and build healthy habits for the year ahead. As we look to the future, Federal employees and retirees may not be aware that there are a number of activities included in their healthcare plans they can take advantage of right now to improve

their health. From gym discounts to wellness incentives, there are a multitude of opportunities that exist for government employees looking to make the most of their health benefits.

In this third and final episode of “Discussions in Federal Healthcare," a podcast from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, in collaboration with GovExec’s Studio 2G, we'll discuss how government employees can take advantage of wellness incentives and programs.

The month of November tends to conjure up images of fall foliage, pumpkin patches and Thanksgiving dinner. But for federal employees, it also means it’s time to start thinking about health benefits. Open season, after all, is right around the corner and it’s only a matter of time before employees need to choose a health insurance plan for fiscal year 2022.

But what do federal employees need to know about signing up for or renewing their health, dental and vision benefits this open season? That's the question our experts answer on this second episode of “Discussions in Federal Healthcare,'' a podcast from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, in collaboration with GovExec’s Studio 2G, that aims to educate federal employees on healthcare benefits and services.

Innovation comes in many forms. And while it’s easy to think of ingenuity in government as an upgrade to an aircraft or a new customer service, it could also look like an AI-powered light sculpture. This is exactly the case for The Smithsonian, which is on the verge of launching its “FUTURES” exhibit, the organization’s first major building-wide exploration of the future, which weaves together art, technology and the human experience.

On this episode of The Federal Innovator podcast, a podcast for and about the innovators taking on the biggest challenges in the federal government — and making change that is more human, simple and enduring, we’ll be delving into the exhibit. Rachel Goslins, director of the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, the newly renovated space which houses the FUTURES exhibit, joins co-hosts Tim Irvine, managing director and Accenture Federal Digital Studio lead, and Stephanie Wander, acting director and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center to discuss what innovation means to her, why she decided to pursue the exhibit, and what it takes to move innovation forward in the world of government.

Given the scale and complexity of many government agencies, a unifying purpose and silo-spanning collaboration is the foundation required to fulfilling their missions. But, getting stakeholders and subject matter experts in the same room to rally around opportunities and create that desirable future is no easy feat.

This is especially true for the State Department’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations which is charged with connecting stakeholder and experts via secure, resilient facilities that support the State Department’s objectives abroad. And during the pandemic, when experts were confined to their homes and travel was restricted, that challenge only became more urgent and complex.

The State Department’s OBO Technology Accelerator Program was tasked with bridging the gap — and they did just that. Making their world just a little bit smaller by piloting mixed reality headsets that allowed their experts to provide remote assistance to on-site workers via live point-of-view video calls. But what did it take to get this innovative technology up and running? And what is its future at the State Department?

That’s what hosts Tim Irvine, managing director and lead and Accenture Federal Studio and Stephanie Wander, deputy director and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council discuss today on this episode of The Federal Innovator, a podcast for and about the innovators taking on the biggest challenges in the federal government, and making change that is more human, simple and enduring.

Joining to discuss those issues is Danilo Stapula, chief information officer for the Overseas Buildings Operations for the State Department and Erica Jaume, technology accelerator program manager at the State Department.

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced major disruption into the way we work, live and interact with government, but not all those changes were negative. Today, many governments are looking to continue the technological disruption the pandemic instigated — rethinking how they go about delivering citizen services and evolving their systems to meet tomorrow’s needs, as well as today’s.

Case in point is the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, or DWD which partnered with Google Cloud late last year following a major influx of applications to tap AI with the aim to speed the processing of unemployment claims as well as improve accuracy and reduce fraud.

On this episode of AI: Gov Reimagined, Denise Winkler, Strategic Business Executive for Global Public Sector at Google Cloud and Amy Pechacek, Secretary-designee for the Wisconsin DWD, talk about that project, the department's plans to continue overhaulng its unemployment response and how AI can continue to disrupt and improve citizen experiences.

When it came to understanding and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, governments across the globe called on the most advanced healthcare technologies available. Chief among these was artificial intelligence, which played a key role in tracing the virus and understanding its spread. As a result, AI’s use in the healthcare field has advanced at a rapid pace, possibly compressing nearly two years' worth of digital transformation into just a few months.

While the pandemic has both created and highlighted major AI advancements in the healthcare field, it’s also brought to the fore the need to continue advancing the technology — and the gains that can be made in doing so.

These advantages are already evident at the Defense Innovation Unit, which has contracted with Google Cloud to prototype an AI-enabled digital pathology solution that aims to improve predictive cancer diagnoses at select DoD facilities.

On this episode of AI: Gov Reimagined, Dr. Niels Olson, the DIU chief medical officer and originator of the Predictive Health project, Dr. Craig Mermel, senior staff research scientist at Google Health, and Google Cloud’s Head of Defense Intelligence Sales Scott Frohman, discuss the possibilities of AI in healthcare, the project the DIU is undertaking around predictive cancer diagnoses, and how AI and augmented reality can move the needle on patient outcomes and cost.

There’s no doubt that 2020 proved an especially difficult year for job hunting. Millions of Americans filed for unemployment as businesses were forced to shutter locations or cut back on staff in order to accommodate health and safety requirements around the pandemic.

Now, as vaccines continue to roll out across the country, governments and businesses everywhere are beginning to look out at the road to recovery. Much of that recovery involves getting the nation back to work — but in a vastly different work landscape than we've ever seen before.

So, how can state and local governments help constituents navigate this new world of work and help to bolster economic recovery? That’s exactly what Quinn Chasan, head of customer analytics at Google Cloud, and Sarah Blusiewicz, assistant director of Workforce Development Services at the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training will be speaking about on this episode of AI: Gov Reimagined. Check it out!