Planning for the future with AI for counties
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, but with the advent and rapid evolution of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot, there is a new urgency for leaders to understand better and plan their approach to using AI. County leaders must address its usage, risks, and benefits, but it can be difficult to parse through the news and the hype to determine the next steps.
This article poses questions to ask and research to complete as you start building your framework for AI usage by county employees and residents.
“AI is like a digital assistant automating processes that organize data for employees to make informed decisions. Examples include smart devices such as lights in the courthouse or self-driving cars that collect data. Other examples include transcribing apps, voice command prompts, and customer relationship management scripts used in chatbots. This is similar to a behind the scenes advisor. GenAI, such as ChatGPT, generates creative content, which not only assists in regular tasks but also is capable of drafting documents, designing educational materials, or creating public service announcements, showcasing its ability to produce new and original content when you ask it questions, otherwise known as prompts.”1
4 steps to get started with AI for counties:
To get the most value out of your AI investment, it’s important to build a comprehensive framework to guide your strategy.
Here’s how to get started:
- Ask where AI exists in your county today
- Create a team to research and prioritize county services that can be enhanced with AI
- Decide what policies or guidelines to create or update for employees
- Determine how you want to address county AI usage when speaking to residents
Step 1: Ask where AI exists in your county today
Although many county leaders believe their employees are not using ChatGPT or other AI tools, there is very little chance they are not or have not considered it. Data can be transferred out of your IT department’s control and placed in a third-party tool, with no ability to determine where it will be used outside of your records retention or management mandates. If your county has education, health, or library services included in your portfolio, it becomes more urgent to understand how that information is used.
You can work with your IT leadership to determine which departments or individuals are using county resources to access AI tools, especially if you have a robust cybersecurity team. In parallel, consider asking your communications staff to survey employees and leaders to understand their usage—and their appetite—for advancing county goals with this powerful set of tools.
Step 2: Create a team to research and prioritize services that can be enhanced with AI for counties
Counties never have enough money to address all the operational tasks required to run their services (or to provide increased services to residents), no matter the size. What is becoming clear is that they also do not have the staff to scale to meet constituent needs. This is where a cross-section of leadership can accelerate your thinking. Ask for IT leadership to consider what’s possible with AI while collaborating with your top informatics and agency leaders. Together, they can identify leverageable data, streamline or automate processes, and assess the risk appetite for internal or external AI tools.
Many times, it is the more routine, less exciting services or processes that can be accelerated, allowing employees to focus on higher-value work. However, make sure you understand how any idea directly relates to your priorities for the county and its residents. As with all technology, success is more likely when it comes out of the top initiatives identified for the agency.
Step 3: Decide what policies or guidelines to create or update for employees
Once you know how AI is being used by your employees—and how you would like it to be used—take the time to update any relevant policies or guidelines. Some counties will find a separate policy is needed for the use of generative AI; others will want to update existing policies with the appropriate language. This mustn't be left up to the set of IT policies already in place, such as the IT Acceptable Use Policy. There are considerations for privacy, security, data governance, compliance, records retention, and public disclosure requirements (such as the Freedom of Information Act) that go beyond existing policies.
The federal government is updating its AI policies and guidelines regularly as AI evolves; states, counties, and cities must also stay aware of the governance needed to craft effective frameworks. Set aside resources for employee change readiness and education. Some will embrace the new tools, while some will fear for their skill sets and long-term career prospects. It’s important to bring everyone along in this changing way of work.
Step 4: Determine how you want to address county AI usage when speaking to residents
Transparency is key when speaking to the residents and businesses of your county. No one wants to be surprised by sensitive information appearing unexpectedly in a tool such as ChatGPT due to careless usage, nor do they want to feel that they can only talk to “robots” such as AI chat systems about their critical needs. If you have determined how to use AI (and how not to use it) in your policies, and you have prioritized areas that speak to the best value for services the county provides, the ideal next step is to communicate it outside of county operations.
Create or leverage an existing task force that includes residents and businesses from key populations. Ask them how best to convey the opportunity provided by streamlining and automating services. This is also the time to understand any workforce or equity impacts perceived by constituents so that you may address them early and often. You will want to include your communications, legal, and government relations teams in crafting these conversations so that messaging is consistently and effectively conveyed to the public.
Prioritize effective, responsible AI for counties
Only once these four steps are complete should you consider permitting employees to use any AI tools as part of their daily processes. Depending on the size of your technology team, you may start with widely available tools, or embedded in systems you use every day (payroll, contracts, permitting, etc.). You may choose to engage with a trusted company to create processes and services with more customized tools.
You may also decide to partner with technology leadership to develop in-house expertise and bespoke tools that meet your unique and more complex needs. Larger counties are likely to use all these approaches, while medium to small counties will need to size their approach according to their resources. Whatever your approach, taking the time to address the opportunities and risks in AI will allow you to create a framework that makes the most sense for your county, its residents, and businesses.
Endnotes
- “AI County Compass: A Comprehensive Toolkit for Local Governance and Implementation of Artificial Intelligence.” National Association of Counties, July 8, 2024. https://www.naco.org/resource/ai-county-compass-comprehensive-toolkit-local-governance-and-implementation-artificial. ↩