Artificial intelligence (AI) offers government leaders exciting opportunities to improve public services. However, these advancements also come with potential risks. That's why it's crucial to equip public sector professionals with the knowledge and skills to use AI responsibly.
Striking this balance between innovation and caution is why InnovateUS has been offering free workshops, coaching programs, and at-your-own-pace courses to public sector professionals on how to use AI to improve how governments make policies and deliver services.
Today at the Google Public Sector Summit in Washington D.C., Google.org announced $5 million in new funding for InnovateUS. The funding from Google will support new AI programming and funding for students to work with governments on building digital services through the AI for Impact cooperative education program.
InnovateUS has already trained over 40,000 learners in over 100 government agencies. All programming is designed by public sector professionals and overseen by an advisory board of federal, state, and local government partners. InnovateUS’s mission is to improve lives by enabling public service professionals to deliver more effective and equitable policies and services.
Our online AI courses include:
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Responsible AI for Public Professionals: Using Generative AI at Work
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Responsible AI for Public Professionals: Scaling AI in Your Organization
InnovateUS offers workshops in AI and other innovation skills every week. For example,
States like New Jersey, Maryland, and California have announced that they will now make InnovateUS programs available to their whole workforce.
“Increasing the 'AI IQ' of the state government workforce is a crucial part of Maryland's strategy to ensure that AI adoption is both responsible and productive. To that end, InnovateUS's courses are already helping state employees gain a foundational understanding of AI and how it can be leveraged to improve constituent services and agency workflows. We're grateful for the partnership and look forward to continuing to promote the courses across the state,” said Nishant Shah, Senior Advisor for Responsible AI for Maryland.
Beth Simone Noveck, Founder of InnovateUS and Chief AI Strategist for the State of New Jersey, emphasized the importance of AI upskilling. “For the government to work better and be more accessible to the people it serves, our workers must have the opportunity to take advantage of the latest tools and technologies. By continuing to invest in upskilling programs for public sector professionals offered through InnovateUS, we can improve the effectiveness of how we solve problems while restoring much-needed trust in our government,” she said.
By investing in their workforce's responsible and ethical use of AI public sector agencies are not just keeping pace with technological change—they're positioning themselves to lead innovation in service of their communities.
The partnership between InnovateUS and Google.org represents a collaborative approach to public sector innovation. InnovateUS maintains full and sole control over the writing, editing, and creation of InnovateUS course and workshop content, without influence from our generous funders.
To learn more about the partnership visit here.
