Launched one of the nation’s first AI tools specifically built for State employees

To begin safely and responsibly harnessing the incredible power of AI to improve government services and operations, the Office of Innovation partnered with the State Office of Information Technology and the State Civil Service Commission to launch the NJ AI Assistant. This powerful new generative AI platform offers a “sandbox” environment that features heightened security and privacy protections for New Jersey State employees to safely leverage AI.

Challenge

AI holds great promise, however the technology carries potential risks particularly when it comes to government data and sensitive information. Generative AI software often captures inputs to train and improve a company’s AI model, which could jeopardize internal State data and information. But by banning or avoiding the technology, states lose out on the potential to dramatically increase productivity, efficiency, and responsiveness in government services and operations.

Innovation In Action

Working with the New Jersey State Office of Information Technology, the Office of Innovation developed the NJ AI Assistant to safely offer State employees access to one of the most powerful AI models available by securing government-friendly terms of service and additional top-notch privacy protections. The tool is hosted on State infrastructure and does not use State data to train a third-party AI model to avoid putting internal information at risk. In addition, the NJ AI Assistant has several filters to prevent the input or output of potentially harmful information, as well as protections to prevent common “jailbreaks” and other attempts to circumvent the model’s safeguards. Lastly, the launch of the NJ AI Assistant was timed with the release of a Generative AI training course for State employees to help ensure any use of AI is safe, secure, respectful of residents’ privacy, free of bias, and in line with State policies.

Impact

• New Jersey is one of the first States in the nation to provide State employees with a safe environment to responsibly leverage AI tools to transform government services.
• State departments and agencies have already begun using generative AI in limited cases to improve services. Working with the Department of Labor, OOI has used AI to help rewrite emails in plain language and residents have been responding 35% faster as a result.
• At the ANCHOR property tax program call center, the New Jersey Division of Taxation has been using AI tools to analyze calls to generate better self-service menu options, so residents can find what they need without waiting on hold to speak to an agent, leading to a 50% increase in the number of successfully resolved calls.
• Two months after launching in July 2024, more than 4,000 State employees are actively using the AI Assistant – including teams at several State agencies that are regularly using it to help draft content and analyze user feedback.
• As of August 2024, two months after the Generative AI training was released, over 4,000 State employees have learned how to use AI safely, responsibly, and in line with State policies.

Partners

• NJ State Office of Information Technology
• NJ State Civil Service Commission

What New Jerseyans See

Read More

See the latest at the NJ AI Assistant project page.