Brazilian researchers developed an AI system that analyzes WhatsApp audio messages to identify depression, showing high accuracy and potential for low-cost, real-world mental health screening.
The post Your WhatsApp voice notes could help screen for early signs of depression appeared first on Digital Trends.
Mercor’s APEX-Agents benchmark finds top AI models score under 25% accuracy on realistic consulting, legal, and finance tasks.
The post New study shows AI isn’t ready for office work appeared first on Digital Trends.
A Google study finds advanced AI models mimic collective human intelligence by using internal debates and diverse reasoning paths, reshaping how future AI systems may be designed.
The post Google Research suggests AI models like DeepSeek exhibit collective intelligence patterns appeared first on Digital Trends.
Federal employees received high marks for their work. At the same time, the public also wants more from them, and federal agencies more broadly, especially around technology.
These are among the top findings of a survey of a thousand likely voters from last August by the Center for Accountability, Modernization and Innovation (CAMI).
Stan Soloway, the chairman of the board for CAMI, said the findings demonstrate at least two significant issues for federal executives to consider.
“It very clear to us from the survey was that public actually has faith, to a certain extent, in public employees. The public also fully recognizes that the system itself is not serving them well,” Soloway said on Ask the CIO. “We found well over half of the folks that were surveyed said that they didn’t believe that government services are efficient. We found just under half of respondents had a favorable impression of government workers. And I think this is very much I respect my local civil servant because I know what they do, but I have a lot of skepticism about government writ large.”
CAMI, a non-partisan think tank, found that when it comes to government workers:
At the same time, when it comes to government services, CAMI found 54% of the respondents believe agencies aren’t as efficient or as timely as they should be.
John Faso, a former Republican congressman from New York and a senior advisor for CAMI, said the call for more efficiencies and timeliness from citizens echoes a long-time goal of bringing federal agencies closer to the private sector.
“People, and we see this in the survey, look at what government provides and how they provide it, and then to what they’re maybe accustomed to in private sector economy,” Faso said. “Amazon is a prime example. You can sit home and order something, a food product, an item of clothing or something else you want for your house or your family, and oftentimes it’s there within a day or two. People are accustomed to getting that kind of service. People have an expectation that the government can do that. I think government is lagging, obviously, but it’s catching up, and it needs to catch up fast.”
Faso said it’s clear that a solid percentage of the reason for why the government is inefficient comes back to Congress. But at the same time, the CAMI survey demonstrated that there are things federal executives could do to address many of these long-standing challenges.
CAMI says respondents supported several changes to improve timely and efficient delivery of benefits:
“Whether it’s the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Medicaid and Medicare, the feds set all the rules for the administration and governance of the programs. So the first question you have to ask is, what is the federal role?” Soloway said. “Even though we have now shifted administrative responsibility for many programs to the states and to some cases, the counties, and reduced by 50% the financial support for administration of these programs, while the states have a lot to figure out and are somewhat panicked about it, because it’s a huge lift. The feds can’t just walk away. This is where we have issues of policy changes that are needed at the federal level, which we can talk about some of the ones that are desperately needed to give the states kind of the flexibility to innovate.”
Soloway added this also means agencies have to break down long-established siloes both around data and processes.
The Trump administration, for example, has prioritized data sharing across the government, especially to combat concerns around fraud. The Office of Management and Budget said in July it was supercharging the Do Not Pay list by removing the barriers to governmentwide data sharing.
Soloway said this is a prime example of where the private sector has figured out how to get different parts of their organization to talk to each other and where the government is lagging.
“What is the federal role in helping to break down the silos and integrate applications, and to the certain extent help with the administration of programs with like beneficiaries? The data is pretty clear that there’s a lot of commonality across multiple programs, and when you think about the number of different departments and the bureaucracy that actually control those programs, there’s got to be leadership at the federal level, both on technology and to expand process transformation, otherwise you’re not going to solve the problem,” he said. “The second thing is when we talk about issues like program integrity, there are ways you can combat fraud and also protect the beneficiaries. But too often, the conversations are either/or any effort to combat fraud is seen as an effort to take eligible people off the rolls. Every effort to protect eligible people on the rolls is seen as just feeding into that so that’s where the federal leadership, and some of that is in technology, some of it’s in policy. Some of it’s going to be in resources, because it requires investments in technology across the board, state and federal.”
Respondents say technology can play a bigger role in improving the delivery of federal services.
CAMI says respondents offered strong support for using AI to improve government service delivery:
Soloway said CAMI is sharing its survey findings with both Congress and the executive branch.
“We’re trying to get the conversations going and get the information to the right people. When we do that, we find, by and large, on both sides, there’s a lot of support to do stuff. The question is going to really be, where’s the leadership going to come from that will have the enough credibility on both sides to push this ball forward?” Soloway said.
Faso added state governments also must play a big role in improving program delivery.
“You have cost sharing between the federal and state governments, and you have cost sharing in terms of the administrative burden to implement these programs. I think a lot of governors, frankly, are now really looking at themselves and saying, ‘How am I going to implement this?’” he said. “How do I collaborate with the federal government to make sure that we’re all enrolling in the same direction in terms of implementing these requirements.”
The post AI can improve federal service delivery, citizen survey says first appeared on Federal News Network.
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Jan. 20–23 recap: Code went corporeal as Big Tech bet on bodies, and your weekend chores suddenly look negotiable.
The post Daily Tech Insider Spotlights the Week Silicon Sprouted Legs and Lanyards appeared first on TechRepublic.
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The post Billington CyberSecurity Cyber and AI Outlook Series Episode 5: ROI for AI: Setting Goals and Tracking Outcomes first appeared on Federal News Network.
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Jan. 20–23 recap: Code went corporeal as Big Tech bet on bodies, and your weekend chores suddenly look negotiable.
The post Daily Tech Insider Spotlights the Week Silicon Sprouted Legs and Lanyards appeared first on TechRepublic.
AI data centers dominated PowerGen, revealing how inference-driven demand, grid limits, and self-built power are reshaping the energy industry.
The post PowerGen’s Shock Pivot: How AI Data Centers Hijacked an Energy Conference appeared first on TechRepublic.
AI data centers dominated PowerGen, revealing how inference-driven demand, grid limits, and self-built power are reshaping the energy industry.
The post PowerGen’s Shock Pivot: How AI Data Centers Hijacked an Energy Conference appeared first on TechRepublic.
Learn to use AI safely, prep for CompTIA professional certifications, and more with lifetime access on sale now for only $29.99.
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The acquisition of the Israeli firm comes as major technology platforms race to embed shopping into AI experiences.
The post PayPal to Acquire Cymbio for AI-Driven Agentic Commerce appeared first on TechRepublic.
Learn to use AI safely, prep for CompTIA professional certifications, and more with lifetime access on sale now for only $29.99.
The post This $120 AI Security Training Bundle is Now Only $30 appeared first on TechRepublic.
The acquisition of the Israeli firm comes as major technology platforms race to embed shopping into AI experiences.
The post PayPal to Acquire Cymbio for AI-Driven Agentic Commerce appeared first on TechRepublic.
AI company says its Stargate AI data centers will pay their own way on energy, aiming to scale US infrastructure without raising local electricity rates.
The post OpenAI Says Stargate Data Centers Won’t Raise Local Power Bills appeared first on TechRepublic.
AI company says its Stargate AI data centers will pay their own way on energy, aiming to scale US infrastructure without raising local electricity rates.
The post OpenAI Says Stargate Data Centers Won’t Raise Local Power Bills appeared first on TechRepublic.
The United States Central Command has awarded defense technology firm Raft a new contract to deploy an artificial intelligence system designed for battlefield operations, following a competitive five-day evaluation hosted by CENTCOM, the company announced on January 22. Raft received the award through an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) issued by the Chief Digital and Artificial […]
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