Prioritizing Responsible AI in the Public Sector

In this blog series, Google Public Sector leaders share their expertise on how AI is revolutionizing government services. We'll explore the ways our AI solutions are adaptive, secure, responsible, and intelligent – enabling agencies to serve constituents better than ever before. Explore our thought leadership hub to explore innovative ideas for public service.

AI's growing impact: A transformation at every level

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the public sector, from streamlining service delivery at the federal level to driving groundbreaking research and enhancing citizen services at the state and local levels. The White House is championing this transformation while emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability in how AI is leveraged. This commitment to open practices aligns with Google’s approach to responsible AI, providing powerful tools and prioritizing ethical development, trust, and transparency for public sector organizations nationwide.

Google's responsible AI approach

To build and deploy AI solutions that benefit society, trust is essential. Google’s responsible AI approach encompasses:

• Transparency and explainability: Understand how AI models operate and the rationale behind their decisions.
• Fairness and bias mitigation: Strive for equity across demographics and use cases, proactively addressing potential unintended biases.
• Security and privacy: Ensure robust data protection throughout the AI development and deployment lifecycle.
• Accountability: Adherence to government standards and regulations.

Responsible AI in action: Google Cloud and the U.S. Department of Defense

The Google Cloud Next '24 discussion with the U.S. Department of Defense highlighted their commitment to responsible AI to build an AI-powered microscope that can help doctors identify cancer for service members and veterans. Speakers Dr. Nadeem Zafar, Director, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Service, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound, and Scott Frohman, Head of Defense Programs, Google Cloud, emphasized the crucial partnership between AI and human pathologists.

The tool, called the Augmented Reality Microscope (ARM), is deployed at military treatment facilities around the world. The ARM utilizes artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze digitized tissue samples and highlight potential abnormalities to help pathologists find cancer faster and with better accuracy. In the future, ARM can be trained to recognize other diseases and ultimately help develop, educate, and research the study and diagnosis of diseases.

Here's how the project prioritized responsible AI:

• Open-source approach: Google is open-sourcing the algorithm. This encourages broad collaboration to advance the technology and allows the community to help ensure safe, responsible implementation.
• Robust data practices: The project emphasizes distinct datasets for training, validation, and testing to help reduce unwanted bias and ensure the model's accuracy.
• Privacy and security: Edge devices that perform analysis locally help ensure patient privacy and fast, reliable results by minimizing the need to transmit sensitive data.
• Adaptability: As the technology matures, incorporating additional training data (such as partially treated tumors) will be crucial for accurate diagnosis throughout the full care journey.
• Expert feedback: Involving medical experts from the outset facilitates responsible development. Continuous pathologist input addresses risks like false positives and helps refine the AI's capabilities.

This collaborative approach, built on a foundation of responsible AI principles, can pave the way for trustworthy, effective healthcare solutions.

Responsible AI implementation: New York State

The groundbreaking work in New York State demonstrates the power of responsible AI in action. Partnering with Google Cloud, agencies like the Department of Motor Vehicles and New York State Medicaid are not only streamlining services and improving healthcare but also prioritizing fairness, transparency, and ethical considerations. These initiatives, showcased at Gen AI Live + Labs New York, demonstrated how AI, when deployed thoughtfully, can transform the public sector while upholding the highest standards of responsibility, ultimately leading to better outcomes for all New Yorkers.

Unlock your responsible AI journey

Google Cloud is dedicated to fostering the accountable, responsible use of AI in the public sector, leveraging the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) to support federal and state public sector AI adoption. We're proud to be among the first to complete an independent third-party AI readiness assessment, providing valuable insights as we prepare for future AI compliance.

Interested in learning how you can help your organization unlock AI's potential while ensuring its responsible application? Take our Introduction to responsible AI course or watch our webinar on harnessing AI for responsible data governance.

Google Public Sector’s new thought leadership hub offers insights and resources on adaptive, secure, and responsible AI. Visit the website to explore case studies, white papers, and resources tailored for the public sector.