Our Approach to AI at Roundtable

At Roundtable, we're on a mission to equip public servants with best-in-class technology. We’re inspired by the opportunities generative AI creates in advancing our mission of enabling a more effective and efficient government.

Our beliefs

Through conversations with hundreds of public servants across the country we’ve developed a set of beliefs that inform our approach to AI at Roundtable:

1. Practitioner-centered development: Public servants need a seat at the table in developing the technology that will help them better serve their communities. Newer is not always better, and we believe that bringing cutting-edge AI to a workforce whose technology is often 5 years behind the broader public that they serve requires meeting users where they are with tools that are familiar and easy to use. 
2. Translating information to practice: The public sector excels at generating content – policy documents, studies, guidelines, and reports. However, public sector work is local and dynamic, and requires real-world interpretation of resources by experts with deep experience. It’s not enough to produce AI-generated resources – bridging the gap between information and practice requires humans to be in the loop.
3. Integrated AI is better AI: Technology has a critical role to play in connecting public servants to the people, resources, and information they need to be successful. AI becomes more useful when it’s integrated into the context in which you’re already accessing resources and collaborating with others. 

Principles of AI use at Roundtable

As builders in the public sphere, we recognize the importance of being grounded in development principles that enable taking advantage of cutting-edge technology while safeguarding against its risks in arenas that impact the public. Accordingly, we follow a set of AI principles to guide how we develop features using AI at Roundtable:

1. Empower public servants: We focus on areas where AI can be used responsibly to create capabilities for addressing user needs. We respect how our users choose to use these tools to accomplish their goals. AI should assist people, not replace them.
2. Use responsibly and transparently: We will communicate clearly when a feature uses AI and provide explanations as to how AI is being used. We present uncertainty and transparently disclose when AI predictions are applied. We continuously improve our AI tools with the help of user feedback.
3. Protect privacy: We will be judicious in the introduction of new AI features and ensure they meet the security and compliance standards mandated by our customers. We provide appropriate control over the use of data, and we never release private data or user interactions to the public or use it to train AI models. 

These AI Principles describe our commitment to developing our product responsibly and are reflected throughout the policy, design, and technology decisions at Roundtable. As we look to the future of public sector work, we’re inspired by the potential of AI to dramatically improve the effectiveness of public servants and outcomes for the communities they serve.

To learn more about technology decisions at Roundtable, please reach out to your account representative or contact us at support@civicroundtable.com.