Aspen Digital

Over the last couple of years, we have seen an increased push from local and state governments to recruit people from the technology industry as layoffs in private industry grow the available talent pool and as municipal government technology departments attempt to keep up with new technologies. With the quick advancements of AI-powered technology, these departments are starting to look specifically for people who can assist in the development of AI processes, manage AI procurement, and advise on AI policy decisions for the public benefit. This new cohort of tech-to-government civil servants will act as guides to governments across the country that are trying to navigate the unknowns of emerging technology. While this initial group will be trailblazers in their own right, for both them and the government to succeed this group will need to learn the intricate nature of how governments function, how to communicate effectively about complicated topics, and how to advocate for themselves and for responsible AI use in government. 

Aspen Digital and the Aspen Policy Academy are developing a new program for Rising Civic AI Leaders, aimed at increasing the impact of newly-hired state and local government employees in charge of managing the responsible adoption and implementation of AI-driven tools. This program will provide a foundation to learn the hows and whys of government bureaucracy while also enabling this group of leaders to build a community across the country with others who are navigating similar challenges. Additionally, this program will incorporate strong mentorship, connecting new public sector employees with those in civil society working on multi-stakeholder efforts such as public AI and information integrity. 

This brief report lays out the case for the Rising Civic AI Leaders program, based on original research performed by Aspen Digital. In the last 6 months, we studied AI policies and interviewed people in state and local governments as well as civil society in order to understand how to approach the mammoth task of preparing governments for the use of AI. We wanted to explore the question: how are states thinking about incorporating AI, and how are they staffing to support that work? We found that governments are either still in or just beginning to come out of the learning phase of investigating what role (if any) AI should play in the day-to-day operations and systems of government. Some have begun to incorporate AI in small ways such as summarization tools, while others are turning their attention to partnerships with major companies to integrate AI into multiple departments. 

To manage this, we have seen across the board an urgent need to train existing technology employees on the basics of AI while future use plans are formalized. Many local and state governments will (or have already in some cases) hire staff specifically to lead the evolution of AI’s role in government. This will be an entirely new subsector of government work and most of the people who will fill these roles—due to the early development of this line of work—will come from the private sector. As a result, this group will have to learn what success means in a completely new environment while their employers are still figuring out how AI fits in. While it seems like a daunting task, these civil servants will have the opportunity to build the foundation of AI for government use which could define how their government operates for years to come.

SHARING LESSONS FROM STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT USE OF A.I.

The use of AI in government work is not a new concept. Governments at every level have been using machine learning (a type of AI) to assist with making decisions from public safety to public education. Cities like LA and Denver have used machine learning to build tools specifically to help citizens make the best transit decisions. However, the recent developments in AI have meant there are both more opportunities and more risks associated with AI-driven tools and systems. As a result, many state and local governments spent 2024 developing new AI policies for how AI should be regulated in the private sector and how it could be integrated into everyday government systems and services. 

Some states and cities have already begun testing the new capabilities of AI in 2024. California announced a partnership with major AI companies to build tools to help tackle issues within the transportation and tax departments. Boston is leading the way with innovations such as building a program in-house powered by Google’s Gemini to summarize docket titles in an effort to help people more easily and efficiently review historical votes. Not all attempts at utilizing AI to improve government systems have gone well however, with the most known example being New York City’s AI-powered chatbot which was supposed to help citizens with questions about operating a business in the city, but actually ended up giving illegal advice when asked certain questions. 

States are also reacting to the incorporation of AI into their work—whether they like it or not. One leader in the AI governance space told us government civil servants are already facing the integration of AI into the products of their established vendors. As a result, local governments have expressed concern because they do not have a complete understanding of how to evaluate these new capabilities or what their impacts might be. Another Chief Information Officer we spoke with said that “vendors are coming up with products that incorporate AI” and government technology departments need people who “understand the limits, the over-hype, and what doesn’t work well” to make informed decisions about these tools. 

These experiences contain a wealth of lessons for governments across the country who are contemplating what path or paths they should take. Yet many governments are not aware of what their contemporaries are doing. One civil society leader focused on AI-procurement told us plainly: “local governments are poor.” Governments lack the time and resources to build connections with their fellow civil servants across the country in traditional ways, such as going to conferences or participating in coalitions. 

There are people and groups doing important work to help state and local governments collaborate with each other and navigate the present day challenges of AI while long-term policies are in development. Working groups such as the Government AI Coalition run by the San Jose city government have built out extensive memberships and have been creating guides and trainings for members to better understand the procurement of AI-driven tools. The Cherokee Nation launched an internal leadership program which encourages the employees in the Cherokee Information Technology department to be mentors for other employees who want to learn about and prepare for AI-related issues and tools.

Yet we need more systematic mechanisms for government officials to share lessons learned with each other. It’s incredibly important for these governments at the state and local level—who are all trying to figure out the use of AI at the same time—to actually talk to each other, learn from each other, and support each other. By building a strong community of civil service AI leaders through the Rising Civic AI Leaders program, we hope to establish a foundation for collaboration and knowledge sharing between technology departments across the country.  

THE FUTURE OF GOVERNMENT A.I. ROLES

One of the reasons communication has been so challenging is that current government staff are limited in time, resources, and AI expertise. So governments are starting to augment their capacity by hiring new staff. As governments determine their policies and the budgets required to hire people to carry them out, we have started to see more and more roles with titles such as “Chief AI Officer” or “Director of Emerging Technologies” being posted on state and city job boards. Even without specific policies in place, governments are recognizing the need to have some foundational technologists in place to start the work of understanding what, if any, AI-tools to procure or even build in-house. 

To fill these new roles, governments are trying to take advantage of the major tech layoffs of the past couple of years to push for recruitment of top talent to become civil servants, creating a tech-to-government pipeline. While the government may not (yet!) be able to compete with tech industry salaries, public interest work and the stability of a government position along with government benefits have gone a long way in enticing people to pivot into government tech roles. 

Private sector employees are eager to fill these roles and give back to society. We asked each of the folks we spoke with who had made the transition from tech to government why they made the switch and the primary answer from each of them was because they wanted to contribute to their community. One state Senior AI Advisor had moved from a major technology company into the government because he saw it as an opportunity to have a real impact where it matters most. Many made the admission that they would probably go back into the private sector someday but saw this moment in time as an opportunity to have a positive influence on how governments are approaching a critical matter that will impact everyone.

SUCCESS REQUIRES A STRONG FOUNDATION FROM THE OuTSET

Yet the transition to government is not without challenges. New government hires from the private sector experience a very different culture and work environment. Technology companies for the most part, have to prioritize their bottom line, which can sometimes lead to a conflict of values for employees whereas the government has to prioritize the safety and wellbeing of the people, which is a primary motivator for civil servants.

“The shock factor is real,” said one city Chief Information Officer on their transition to the public sector after working 30 years in the private sector. In the tech industry, employees are often in the mindset of “build the plane, while also flying it,” which means moving through processes quickly, skipping over optional steps, and making decisions as you go in order to meet seemingly impossible timelines. While this approach has led to many innovations in private industry in a short period of time, it isn’t a realistic approach in government where steps need to be taken to ensure the well-being of the people is being addressed at every point in a process. 

One state Senior AI Advisor expressed how difficult it is for someone unfamiliar with the intricate workings of government to come in with the fast-paced mindset of the technology industry to almost immediately encounter roadblocks. Similarly, the Data & Digital Services department of a major city expressed concern about young tech-to-government people who come in with the drive to make real change, only to burn out after attempting to navigate bureaucratic processes. Once state and local governments are able to entice people to forgo the private technology industry in favor of civil service, they need to ensure they stay long enough to actually realize the impact that attracted them in the first place. 

Governments at every level are trying to keep pace with emerging technology and the potential risks and opportunities associated with it. Hiring experts from the private tech industry will help immensely with this. But to succeed, those making the leap from tech to government will have to catch up to career civil servants who have built up years of institutional knowledge. As one state Senior Advisor for AI put it, a “bureaucracy-hacking lens could be powerful.” 

The Rising Civic AI Leaders program aims to provide this lens through education, community building, and fostering relationships between government technologists and civil society leaders and across the country. We want this new generation of AI-focused civil servants to have an impact from the start without having to spend important time struggling to understand how to make that impact. With this program, Aspen Digital and the Aspen Policy Academy are dedicated to supporting the vital work of civil servants to ensure state and local governments are prepared to navigate the rapid development of AI.