Not Another Panel, but a Chance to Build Civic Technology

Source Domain: www.govtech.com

The inaugural 1776 Labs event from gov tech company OnGov brought together government, students and builders for a hands-on exercise in developing AI-powered solutions to solve real-world public-sector challenges.

AI has been gaining ground in government, but readiness varies; so, while governments want to take advantage of the technology, adoption is lagging.

“Most governments don’t need just another panel on the future of AI,” OnGov founder and CEO Silas Deane said. Instead, they need practical models to use AI to solve actual problems, he said — within the constraints of public trust, legal requirements and procurement. University students want to work on government technology to support their communities, Deane said, so he established an environment in which students and government could work together to do that.

The gathering April 17, held at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), had state participation that included Pennsylvania CIO Bry Pardoe and multisector coalition HEAL PA, and the nonprofit Team Pennsylvania (Team PA). Private-sector partners included Amazon Web Services and OpenAI; UPenn sponsors included the Wharton School, Fels Institute of Government and Penn Venture Lab.

It provided an opportunity to “democratize the build” for government solutions, according to Pardoe, and to include college students, stoking their interest in the public sector early in their careers. Pennsylvania government has longstanding collaborative relationships with state universities to advance AI.

“We need you — everyone who can come to the table and bring lived experience, your talent, and the ability to move faster and more iteratively,” Pardoe said during the event.

REAL SOLUTIONS FOR REAL PROBLEMS

During 1776 Labs, the group working with HEAL PA Director Jesse Kohler was able to create a “legitimate prototype” to support Adverse Childhood Experience scoring and communications,…

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