This panel discussion from the Academy's 2025 Policy Summit explores the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and public benefits, examining how technological advancements are influencing policy decisions and the delivery of social services.
This session from FormFest 2024 focused on how to help people get the assistance they need from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ work on the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Maryland Social Services Administration’s work to improve welfare support for kinship caregivers.
The team conducted experiments to determine whether clients would be responsive to proactive support offered by a chatbot, and identify the ideal timing of the intervention.
Professor Don Moynihan discusses how administrative burden is an effective tool to make it difficult for people to access certain types of benefits, noting that this is particularly harmful to communities of color.
On December 5, 2022, an expert panel, including representatives from the White House, unpacked what’s included in the AI Bill of Rights, and explored how to operationalize such guidance among consumers, developers, and other users designing and implementing automated decisions.
The team introduced "Policy Pulse," a tool to help policy analysts understand laws and regulations better by comparing current policies with their original goals to identify implementation issues.
The team developed an AI solution to assist benefit navigators with in-the-moment program information, finding that while LLMs are useful for summarizing and interpreting text, they are not ideal for implementing strict formulas like benefit calculations, but can accelerate the eligibility process by leveraging their strengths in general tasks.
The team developed an AI-powered explanation feature that effectively translates complex, multi-program policy calculations into clear and accessible explanations, enabling users to explore "what-if" scenarios and understand key factors influencing benefit amounts and eligibility thresholds.
This mainstage session from FormFest 2024 featured behind-the-scenes stories about the IRS’ work to turn tax forms from static PDFs into a user friendly digital experience.
