Partnership for Public Service interns use AI to improve public safety and media literacy

This past summer, two Future Leaders in Public Service interns advanced recent Maryland initiatives that promote novel and responsible uses of artificial intelligence to protect and inform the public.

Sabra Winston, a junior majoring in electrical and computer engineering at Vanderbilt University, developed the framework for a financial forecasting tool designed to transform how the Maryland National Guard solicits funding to upgrade dozens of training centers and facilities across the state.  

Meanwhile, Brody McCurdy, a graduate student at North Carolina State University pursuing a doctorate in communication, rhetoric and digital media with a concentration in sociolinguistics, worked to improve students’ media literacy at Maryland Public Television.

Both filled mission-critical needs at their agencies, in turn moving closer to promising careers in public service.

“The internship provided a foundational understanding of what it is like to work in public service and moved me to think about gearing my career toward government work,” Winston said.

“Working at Maryland Public Television allowed me to see public service and government work—specifically state government work—as an exciting option for me after I graduate,” McCurdy said.

Building future leaders in state government

Since 2022, the Partnership for Public Service’s Future Leaders program has placed more than 600 interns in federal agencies across government.

But this year, in response to severe federal workforce and programming cuts made by the Trump administration, the program pivoted to the state level, placing 17 interns across 11 different agencies in Maryland’s state government.

Building on the Partnership’s deep expertise in federal talent issues, the shift seeks to help states manage the additional responsibilities they are carrying due to the administration’s offloading of services to local government.

“My agency trusted me because I came in through the Partnership, an organization with a strong reputation for supporting government talent,” Winston said.

Filling critical talent gaps 

Both Winston and McCurdy said they felt more like full-time employees than interns at their agencies.  

At the Maryland Military Department, Winston used AI to collect data about Maryland National Guard buildings—such as age, maintenance needs and history, and possible repair costs—to create a “bank of knowledge” about each facility. Then, in collaboration with engineers and using knowledge from her coursework in computer coding, she created a prototype application to house, update and track all the data, leaving the agency with a guide for launching and improving the tool for regular use.  

The tool aims to provide the department more compelling and accurate data to cite when soliciting funding from Maryland to upgrade its National Guard facilities, requests that have been hampered by a state budget deficit made worse by widescale federal worker layoffs, funding cuts and spending freezes.   

McCurdy was the first AI intern for Maryland Public Television’s new Media Literacy and Education Center.  

There, he developed materials for parents and teachers on how to spot false content generated or spread by AI, made recommendations for the use of AI in Maryland public schools and explored how the public television agency could incorporate AI into its educational materials. His work will inform the development of a new website the center is currently building on media literacy and AI.   

“One of the big things that became so attractive to me about state government was the amount of people who do meaningful work that has an impact on everyday people,” he said.  

Considering a new path  

Both McCurdy and Winston are considering future careers in government, and they remain in touch with their colleagues about their agencies’ work and future opportunities.  

McCurdy plans to earn his doctorate next year and said the internship showed him a possible path to fulfilling his goal of using his academic training to shape public knowledge.  

Winston, whose work earned her two medals of excellence from the Maryland Military Department, said her supervisors floated the idea of including her in a future meeting with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on the state’s AI policy.  

Both McCurdy and Winston both view the internship as a potential boon to state agencies. 

“This program opens the door to a lot of people who might not see government as a career option and allows state agencies to attract and retain new talent,” McCurdy said.