But artificial intelligence could ease those burdens, at least according to the newest product launch from ClearGov.
The Massachusetts-based seller of budget cycle management software for local governments and school districts has debuted three tools designed to ease the stress of crafting spending plans.
These new features, now in beta, further reflect how quickly AI is moving into the mainstream of the public sector. Just more than two years ago, the company began offering a ChatGPT tool for local budgets.
The new ClearGov Narrative Generation tool offers what the company calls “one-click capability that automatically generates a first draft of explanatory text to accompany charts in budget books.”
Users can combine text and visual data, and achieve Americans with Disabilities Act compliance via the tool, and while saving time over more manual processes, according to the company.
The Document Import feature, meanwhile, allows for the uploading of external PDFs that can then be “seamlessly” converted into the ClearGov digital format. Document Import extracts “text, images and tables, embedding them directly into digital reports without manual re-entry,” according to the company.
Finally, the company’s new Budget Book Evaluator can “analyze and assess” public agency budget books against criteria set by the Government Finance Officers Association. That tool is free to use.
“The common threads across ClearGov's new AI capabilities is that they’ve been developed with input from customers, and each delivers concrete value in terms of time savings and improvements in the quality of output,” Chris Bullock, CEO of ClearGov, told Government Technology via email.
ClearGov serves some 1,400 clients.
Bullock said most state and local public agencies are “excited” about the promise of AI but are moving cautiously.
Three topics tend to stand out during conversations ClearGov has with its customers, he said: Security and control of data; fairness and the reduction of bias; and transparency about how AI is being used.
As ClearGov releases its new AI offerings, backlash seems to be building about the costs — environmental and financial — of the massive data centers that power the technology. Bullock said that data center power needs present “a complex challenge,” but not an impossible one.
“We believe AI can play a positive role in transforming how governments operate,” he said. “However, like any frontier technology, it must be implemented with care and responsibility.”
