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Improving customer engagement through federal AI

The Partnership for Public Service, in collaboration with Deloitte, convened federal customer experience and technology leaders for a roundtable conversation on how generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, can transform how the government engages and serves its customers and stakeholders. 

As GenAI tools spread in the private sector, the public and civil servants expect federal agencies to adopt and mature their use of the technology, which could help employees meet growing workloads and enhance federal services.  

While the leaders identified numerous AI-enabled capabilities that could effectively serve the public, the conversation also emphasized that agencies must adopt new GenAI technology thoughtfully and responsibly to minimize the risk of bias, harm and distrust in government. 

AI as part of a wider change 

Agencies are integrating AI technologies into customer experience work that is still adapting to a wider digital revolution. This process can be accelerated, including through the potential adoption of new workflows that AI and other IT modernizations will enable. 

Participants indicated the following areas for growth and opportunities: 

• Generative AI can improve the ability of people to quickly find information about government services and programs. When done right, this can go a long way toward improving the customer experience and building trust with the public.    

• Many federal employes could use AI-powered resources to cut down on paperwork. Using AI to this end would improve the federal employee experience by creating more time and space to solve problems and build relationships one on one or in small groups. 

• The introduction of GenAI will lead to more professional opportunities in government. Existing employees will have to upskill to use this emerging technology, and agencies will have to introduce new employment tracks for new talent to develop, verify and maintain these tools. 

Focus on meaningful human connections 

Participants pointed out that AI tools like chatbots or intelligent search assistants enable agencies to more easily connect with the public. However, they also emphasized how a human touch and empathy create a consistent, quality customer experience. New AI tools could reduce public trust in government, especially if the user is unfamiliar with them or has historically lacked access to, or been otherwise harmed or overlooked by, new technology. 

The participants recommended that, when AI tools replace certain aspects of a human connection, agencies need to preserve or introduce other types of high-value human-to-human interactions to maximize the quality of the customer or employee experience.  

Building and maintaining trust 

Agencies would improve trust in these new tools by initially introducing GenAI in targeted or internal use cases. Pilot programs like these minimize the risk of errors that negatively affect the public and enable IT teams to gain the necessary experience before higher-value and larger-scale deployments.  

These use cases also enable federal employees and leaders to gain confidence in practically introducing GenAI into more aspects of their work.  

The participants also emphasized the following: 

• Existing self-service options intended to assist customers are frequently insufficient or underused. Agencies that use Gen AI to make these capabilities more accessible and usable may regain the public’s trust by increasing transparency and helping customers verify answers from AI tools like chatbots.  

• Providing clear and well-communicated policy guidelines on the use of AI tools reinforces public trust in government and support for customers and employees. It also draws the line between AI and human responsibilities and helps explain the expectations and limitations of the current solutions. 

• Leaders need to carefully train AI tools to capture the nuance in the data they summarize or reference. This would ensure the tools do not misrepresent or ignore critical information; errors or “hallucinations” may decrease the user’s trust in the results. 

The roundtable underscored that while GenAI would fundamentally transform the customer experience, agencies need to implement this new technology carefully while proactively focusing on trust, ethics and human engagement.

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