Civic Innovations

Technology, Government Innovation, and Open Data

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  • Preparing for an AI Future in Government Service Delivery

    When we hear industry observers and AI experts tell us today that governments can reap the benefits of the latest wave of AI innovation if they organize and prepare their data, they are right – but this is not a new insight. This has always been true.

  • Additional Guardrails for AI use in Government

    Any use of AI or automation in government, particularly as it relates to benefit determinations or claims, needs to be accompanied by policy guardrails that create strong disincentives for improper denials of claims for benefits.

  • Banning Generative AI Won’t Work

    Blanket technology bans spawn shadow IT, and incentivize agencies to hide their use of new technology for fear of having it taken away.

  • Government Agencies Need AI Laboratories

    Governments need ways to safely experiment with new generative AI tools to discover for themselves what works best for those they serve.

  • Engineering smaller burdens

    The performance of a website or digital service has direct implications for the size of the burden placed on users. Reducing the size of this burden requires agencies to think carefully and to engineer services to make potential burdens as small as possible. 

  • Embracing Blamelessness to Improve Government Services

    Understanding the root cause of complex system failures can be tricky, and our desire for accountability may sometimes be at odds with learning the root cause. Incorporating blameless postmortems to help identify issues in their own systems, could help government agencies provide better services to those who need them.

  • What Old Airplanes Can Teach Government About Adopting Artificial Intelligence

    Though more than 100 years separates the inception of the U.S. Airmail Service and the launch of AI tools like ChatGPT, we can learn many lessons from the former when deciding how to use the latter.

  • What to know about no code development tools

    Low-code and no-code tools present an attractive option for government agencies under pressure to deliver new digital solutions quickly. But they also come with tradeoffs. Understanding these tradeoffs is important for agencies to position themselves to most effectively deliver new and improved digital services.

  • Friction as Security

    Too often, the concept of friction as a control mechanism finds its way into the software and technology platforms that are used by government agencies. There is a better way.

  • The Hidden Costs of Robotic Process Automation in Government

    Robotic process automation is increasingly popular as a way to speed up government work. But this isn’t always the answer — and at times, it may cause an agency unforeseen headaches down the road.