Anyone who has ever tried to renew a driver’s license online or navigate the federal government’s tax websites can attest to the vital role that technology plays in public service. It is often the “last mile” of delivery that determines how easy it is for citizens to access the services they need.
With artificial intelligence unlocking a new level of potential efficiency for government, as well as unprecedented risks around safety and privacy, the stakes for future policy leaders to understand and manage technology are higher than ever.
So, what does a policy school graduate need to know about AI today? That question took central focus during this year’s Public Service Career Day at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
“We can’t go back to paper-based mailings or in-person services as the only way to interact with government. Technology is here to stay, and it has a critical role,” former Boston Chief Digital Officer Julia Gutierrez ’12 said during a panel discussion. For policy leaders, she added, the question to ask is, “With technology changing so quickly and with there being so many risks around cybersecurity and protecting constituent data, how do you make sure you’re implementing it in a way that is responsible?”
In a keynote address prior to the panel, Gutierrez explained that she focused her career on using technology to improve services for citizens after noticing how even the best policies rely on effective implementation to work.
Still, she noted, she is far from a tech expert.
“What I learned during my two years in grad school,” Gutierrez said, “was how do I sniff out what bad technology looks like, and how can I be that faithful watchdog inside government making sure that we’re designing and building in a way that’s secure, safe, and then obviously gives us all of the benefits.”
Ben Hawriluk MPA ’25, an AI researcher at the Princeton AI and Society Lab, made a case for why future policy leaders should familiarize themselves with emerging technologies, saying it’s important they be in the room when decisions are made about how AI is used or regulated. He shared the example of how insurance companies are combating a rise in fraud due to AI-generated images with solutions that may increase surveillance of drivers.
“Society is going to face tradeoffs between convenience and authenticity and verification and surveillance, and I think this is a huge concern for people in civil liberties,” Hawriluk said. “It will require people with real technical understanding and policy expertise.”
Hannah Kapoor ’23 noted that students will also need to know how to leverage AI within their jobs – even if they are not working on tech policy.
“At an early-career stage, it is important to know what these tools are and be able to use them,” Kapoor said. “A data analysis project that took me maybe six months when I started my job, I was able to do in two days three months back. [Technology] is fast-evolving, but if you have familiarity with what's out there and a sense of the trends, you're able to keep up with it.”
She also encouraged students not to be daunted if they are not technically minded.
“When you're just new to a field and you don't understand it, it seems really complicated and intimidating. But engineers feel the same way about some of our policy deliberations,” she said. “A big key is just not being intimidated by it and taking that leap, because now more than ever it's easier to learn anything.”
Photos courtesy of Julia Gutierrez ’12, Ben Hawriluk MPA ’25, Hannah Kapoor ’23.
