Human-centered artificial intelligence

AI success depends on closing the gap between employee fear of AI and its ability to empower them.

Pressure is mounting on government agencies at all levels to implement artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. By aligning AI technologies with organizational goals, governments can increase the efficiency of public services, improving transparency and responsiveness. AI solutions can significantly improve customer experiences by streamlining processes, reducing wait times, and providing personalized customer service.

While the benefits are compelling, agencies face obstacles to AI adoption that many commercial operations don’t, including budget constraints, the sensitivity of data, and the tangled web of legacy IT systems that often underpins their operations. But agencies are finding that the biggest impediment to successful AI adoption, however, isn’t a budget, data, or technology challenge—it’s a human one. The success of any AI initiative relies on employees at every level choosing to support it. They can either be allies—contributing their insights and experience to help ensure success—or obstacles that reduce its value and potentially lead to failure.

Human-centered artificial intelligence (HCAI) is an approach to AI adoption designed to address this challenge. Instead of focusing on the technology, HCAI takes an employee-first approach that can help agencies overcome employee resistance. HCAI focuses on understanding employee needs, behaviors, and experiences to create AI systems that are intuitive, user-friendly, and accessible. It seeks to preserve human autonomy, control, and agency in AI systems—so that employees are empowered by AI rather than threatened by it.

When paired with an experience-driven approach to organizational change management, such as our government experience framework, HCAI is designed to help agencies increase the value they derive from their AI initiatives by increasing employee productivity and the quality of their work. It can also increase employee engagement and job satisfaction, which in turn can lead to better customer satisfaction and organizational performance.