A year ago this month, we rolled out a generative AI tool that thousands of the state’s public-sector professionals now use. It’s one of the main reasons that the state was recently top-ranked for AI readiness.

The tool is called the NJ AI Assistant, and it’s helping these professionals do more with their time and improve services to the public, while also saving money along the way.

How is it being used?

The NJ AI Assistant is being used in many powerful ways…

For example, the tool is helping broaden accessibility for non-English speakers. A team that created a glossary of Spanish terms related to Unemployment Insurance recently fed that glossary into the tool. The tool can use that vocabulary to help translate a number of documents, forms, and other content into Spanish. Of course, the team reviews anything that the AI Assistant creates, but the time and effort saved doing the initial work is substantial. As a result, we have new Spanish-language materials that are enhancing comprehension, reducing form-completion times, and driving toward an experience that is equitable to English-language speakers.

The AI Assistant is also helping with the high volume of feedback that New Jersey receives from the widget that has been placed at the bottom of over a dozen state government websites over the past two years. With over 430,000 ratings, 70,000 comments, and 22,000 emails from the public, the AI Assistant can quickly identify common issues and themes that need to be addressed related to a particular program, website, or perhaps more broadly over the long-term.

The tool is even helping agencies analyze transcripts of calls to help create better call center menus, so that when New Jerseyans call to get help, they get to the right information or the right agent quicker than ever before.

What do employees think of the tool?

By and large, the state’s public-sector professionals have said they like having a simple, state-approved genAI tool that they know is secure within the government’s IT infrastructure. They also give high marks to the training we developed with a nonprofit (Innovate US) that goes along with the tool – a training now used by over 25 states and local partners.

We recently surveyed the state employees who use the tool. Most of the respondents indicated that they use it daily or weekly, and that it often saves them hours of time.

In fact, we actually fed a document with hundreds of open-ended responses from that survey into the AI Assistant itself and asked it to provide - in 100 words or less - the top five ways respondents use the tool. The tool provided this output (also see image):

Respondents primarily use the AI Assistant for:

Drafting and Editing: Enhancing emails, memos, and reports for clarity and professionalism.

Summarizing Documents: Condensing lengthy texts and complex information for quick comprehension.

Proofreading and Grammar Checks: Ensuring communication is polished and error-free.

Brainstorming and Idea Generation: Aiding in the creation and refinement of content and projects.

Technical Support: Assisting with coding, data analysis, and creating presentation outlines, streamlining workflows and boosting efficiency.

What’s next?

Already, we’ve improved the tool this year based on recommendations from the people who use it. As a result, they can now upload up to 10 files of various types, as well as larger file sizes.

Looking forward, the team is conducting outreach to various agencies to help them uncover how AI might help with particular activities and efforts related to their respective teams and mission areas.

We want to build on the fact that the tool was used more than half-a-million times over the past year. And notably, since the tool was built in-house, the cost has been only about $1 a month per user based on that volume, versus about $20 per user per month for off-the-shelf commercial licenses. So we’re saving millions of dollars along the way.

Summary

This is a great example of how we can work together across agencies to build a safe and secure genAI tool that helps New Jersey’s government deliver better on our public-service mission.

The result is that we’re now a model for how states can harness AI in a responsible and cost-effective way.

That’s good news for taxpayers, for government, and for the millions of people that state agencies serve throughout the Garden State.

Learn more about the NJ AI Assistant tool.

Make sure to share your own thoughts with the author by leaving a comment below