Artificial Intelligence- AI happens to be often in the news because of its increasingly sophisticated prowess. Along with the many products that have gone on to be created for consumers, there happen to be growing numbers of AI tools that are being developed and used by government agencies. These tools can be applied to solve challenges previously unsolvable and, at the same time, reduce the time people spend when it comes to manual tasks, but there are also happen to be concerns about the usage of new technology by public agencies due to the serious, consequential duties many of them go on to perform.
Fortunately, there are indeed a number of factors in place that may go ahead and alleviate these concerns. First, public agencies are indeed bound by many existing laws as well as regulations that go on to offer a framework wherein the AI tools can be made use of legally, ethically, and in an effective way. These go on to include rules governing data collection as well as the use and also the rights along with the responsibilities pertaining to private citizens in public spaces such as public streets, where the vast majority of travel takes place.
Apart from this, many federal agencies have gone ahead and developed policies and regulations around AI. These happen to include the White House Executive Order pertaining to the Safe, Secure, as well as the Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, as well as the AI Risk Management Framework from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, both of which were released in 2023.
Within the U.S. DOT, both the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office- ITS JPO as well as the newly formed Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee focus on AI tools and policies. In March 2024, the U.S. DOT announced a $15 million Complete Streets AI Initiative, which is one of the examples of how it intends to support as well as guide AI development, in this case to invest in small businesses so as to develop new AI-powered decision-support algorithms and tools.
One of the most prominent ways in order to mitigate risk is to make use of AI as a tool to go ahead and help people make informed decisions, not just as a replacement for people’s judgment. Tech, apparently, can be used to eradicate menial, time-consuming challenges from an employee’s workload and also enable them to stress on critical thinking, synthesizing data, and other meaningful work that is more valuable and fulfilling. AI tools can be made use of so as to improve the present status at various transportation agencies, which, as per a recent FHWA report, happen to be data rich-but information poor, finding that a dearth of analysis and decentralization of asset records safeguards the agencies from producing timely, fact-based data that is needed to make sound business decisions.
The pace of transition within the AI industry may make it pretty challenging for transportation practitioners to go ahead and identify and, at the same time, understand the range of tools that can also be useful in their jobs. By way of incorporating AI tools responsibly into transportation, practitioners can go ahead and elevate their work and also contribute to enhanced service delivery, better safety outcomes, and the well-being of Americans as they opt to travel.
