OPENING LINES NEVADA HAS A LARGE BACKLOG OF UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS APPEALS. IT’S BANKING ON AI TO HELP. Source: americantownandcountry.com, Ryan Kushner, First Published September 16, 2024 Nevada has been buried in a backlog of unemployment benefits appeals that began flowing into the state’s Department of Employment,Training, and Rehabilitation (DETR) during the pandemic.The state thinks artificial intelligence (AI) may be the answer to digging itself out. Nevada recently became the first state government to utilize a generative AI system developed by Google to analyze transcripts from unemployment appeals hearings and generate recommendations, according to a report by Gizmodo that was confirmed by the DETR. All recommendations issued from the new AI tool will be reviewed by humans, according to Christopher Sewell, director of the DETR.The project is currently underway, DETR told AC&C. The goal of the pioneering initiative is to streamline the process and get through appeals quicker—a task that would take up to three hours for one employee could be done in as little as five minutes using the AI system, according to a report by the Nevada Independent in June. Such time savings could have huge benefits for the DETR, which has been facing “unforeseen staffing shortages” that have had a “substantial impact” on maintaining regular operations, according to a July memo.The contract with Google AI, approved by the state’s Board of Examiners in August, cost $1 million. To maintain privacy of those whose appeals are being processed, the contract prevents Google from accessing “personally identifiable information” that is frequently used in unemployment claims. Google is also prohibited from using confidential data in the transcripts for uses outside the contract, according to the Gizmodo report. “The technology employed is well-established and successfully implemented in other projects and represents the cutting edge of IT development, albeit with limited prior deployments,” Lisa Jean, the Nevada’s Technology Investment Notifications administrator, stated in a memo in June. 15 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10
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