Bringing AI into the federal technology fold -- FCW

Federal data analytics and automation efforts are still getting organized around a larger new paradigm, Gil Alterovitz, director of artificial intelligence at the Department of Veterans Affairs, said at ATARC's Oct. 24 Federal Artificial Intelligence And Data Analytics Summit. The VA is testing a number of artificial intelligence-driven projects to help patients, including programs to reduce waiting times at its facilities, predict potential suicides and monitor customer service. Todd Myers, automation lead at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, said the government should look to companies like Uber and Amazon for models of how to use data to advance their missions. "These companies are successful, and the government will be successful when we break down the organizational silos" of units that may working on their own data analytics and data sets, he said. "The days of separate business units and organizations going off and doing their own thing, I think are long gone. I think the federal government is leaning hard and fast in changing that approach," Myers said.