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AI-supported ‘superteams’ key to future of federal workforce: Deloitte

The consultancy advocates the creation of new team structures that give technology the status of a staff member.
Woman using a RPA Robotic Process Automation system by pressing a button. Composite image between a hand photography and a 3D background.

New artificial intelligence-supported “Superteams” will play a central role in the future structure of staffing at federal agencies, according to a new report by Deloitte.

In a study published Thursday, the consultancy firm said challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic during the last year had fast-tracked the use digital technology to streamline workflows and reduce the volume of mundane tasks that staff must undertake.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, many public sector organizations accelerated incorporating technology into their team structure as a survival strategy to enable adaptability and speed.

“Superteams ensure that the right workforce type (human or technology) gets properly allocated to critical tasks: by using digital technology to unburden the human workforce of dirty, dangerous, and dull tasks, leaders enable the workforce to focus on meaningful, high-impact work that requires human insight to solve problems, think strategically, and build interpersonal relationships,” Deloitte said in the study.

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The study comes as government agencies continue to experiment with the use of AI to automate business processes, including at the Pentagon. The Defense Innovation Unit and private sector contractors have worked with the U.S. Army to develop automated systems for flagging erroneous financial transactions.

DataRobot and Summit2Sea are among the private sector contractors that have developed machine learning systems for the DOD.

According to Deloitte, superteams are defined by giving technology the status of a full-on teammate. The consultancy says that although technology systems must still be led by humans,  they are growing rapidly in their ability to be applied to complex problems.

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