That’s where the community voice comes in. Listening to community members, partners, and employees and implementing their feedback will elevate public-serving organizations from good to great in the coming years. Instead of making leaders appear less empathetic, AI-enhanced public engagement is making it easier for them to listen to, understand, and empower their employees and communities—and demonstrate the value of human voices. “Every few years, we introduce technology that shakes the system. AI is the next catalyst, the next changemaker that some will adopt early and others will need more time to embrace.” Nikhil Deshpande Chief Digital Officer, State of Georgia What is community voice, and why is it important? Community voice is what public engagement initiatives aim to capture, quantify, and act on. According to Law Insider, “Community Voice means that members representing the community served by the project, including students, will be involved in co-constructing the project design, implementation, and/or providing strategic guidance in final decision-making.” Effective approaches to public engagement ensure people have safe, healthy feedback outlets and leadership can make informed, supported, and transparent decisions that promote a trustworthy environment inside the organization and in the public arena. Many organizations that tap into community voice follow the International Association for Public Participation’s (IAP2) standards, leaning into its Collaborate guidance for active engagement projects. According to IAP2’s Spectrum of Public Participation, the goal of Collaborate projects is “to partner with the public in each aspect of the decision including the development of alternatives and the identification of the preferred solution” and to incorporate their feedback into the resulting decisions “to the maximum extent possible.” Most survey technology doesn’t meet IAP2’s Collaborate standards by allowing participants to engage with each other and collaborate on community priorities—and that’s why it’s essential to find engagement platforms that use AI to facilitate participant interaction and promote listening and acting on their feedback. Most organizations use community voice to identify issues or challenges within the community and to surface areas for improvement in the public sector. Mutually beneficial within any organization, community voice allows leaders to better understand their staff and community while allowing people to positively impact the decision-making process and the organization as a whole. “The importance of community voice lies in its ability to promote transparency, inclusivity, and accountability, ultimately leading to greater outcomes by means of community engagement and participation.” Dr. Chad J. Sloss Northwest Dayton Partnership Steering Committee Dayton, OH AI’s impact on the engagement landscape Public engagement has historically been a lengthy process of standard surveys, comment boxes, meetings, all-hands meetings, focus groups, consultants, manual data analysis, and reports—but AI technologies are quickly transforming how organizations listen to people and act on their feedback. Many public-serving organizations haven’t caught up with this critical use case for AI technologies. Instead, they still use cumbersome, inefficient, and expensive engagement to capture community voice. State of Engagement in 2024 75% of staff don't feel heard on critical issues Surveys abound, yet disengagement prevails $1M+ spent on tools & consultants Tools and consultants drain budgets, with little to no change MONTHS of wasted time spent on reporting Swimming in data, with insights taking months to reach land “Employees who do not feel heard at work are 6x more likely than those who feel heard to say that they are already looking for a new job.” Gen Z at Work Guide How organizations are using AI—and how they shouldn’t use it Public organizations need to remember that not all AI applications are equal. While there is a proliferation of AI tools available for monitoring staff, Deloitte found that “workforce turnover is almost twice as high at companies that use monitoring software as surveillance than at organizations that do not.” See how 4 civic experts are leveraging AI for better outcomes. Read the Article AI-powered public engagement The Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University argues that active approaches to community voice—engagement that involves community partners in resource distribution, decision-making, planning, data collection, and sensemaking—offer “higher levels of perceived and actual power of communities relative to organizational partners.” Many public engagement methods, such as standard surveys, meetings, town halls, and focus groups, take time, effort, and funding and often don’t elicit the level of participation organizations seek. However, modern engagement platforms harness AI advancements to provide personalized, data-rich methods of gathering and analyzing feedback data. These AI engagement tools are changing the public engagement landscape while staying true to their goals of fostering collaboration, shared purpose, transparency, trust, impact, and action. At ThoughtExchange, we hear success stories daily as our customers leverage community insights to build more inclusive policies and make better decisions. We believe new AI engagement technologies have the potential to change the way organizations work with their community partners for the better. “ThoughtExchange is a great tool for municipalities that want to foster meaningful community engagement because the best engagement allows people to interact with the feedback of others. The ability to have that type of interaction makes the process more participatory, and the outcomes more credible and relevant. That particular feature of ThoughtExchange makes it so useful to us, and it should make it a platform that other municipalities look to.” Manager of Public Consultation for a large municipality AI’s operational benefits While people may think of AI as a shortcut, the technology provides significant operational benefits. Here are a few ways AI technologies can transform public-serving organizations. Speed and efficiency Above all, AI can complete tasks more quickly than human beings. Meeting agendas, communications, public engagement, data analysis, and reporting can all be completed in less time, freeing up time to focus on problem-solving and action. Cost and time savings Along with speed and efficiency come cost and time savings. Organizations can save hours of employee time by leveraging AI for more routine administrative tasks and can use AI data analysis for more effective budget allocation. AI-powered engagement initiatives can gather feedback from large groups without the cost and inefficiency of in-person meetings and focus groups. Ability to analyze larger data sets AI can analyze data sets that would otherwise overwhelm humans, allowing organizations to consider a broader range of data for important decisions. The right AI technologies can also perform custom analysis in a few seconds and layer in the organization’s plans or goals to suggest talking points, pinpoint actions, and provide feedback summaries. Better engagement For decades, organizations have relied on basic surveys, focus groups, and in-person meetings for engagement, sometimes requiring weeks or months of analysis before taking action on the feedback they receive. AI engagement platforms speed up the time from ask to action, gathering large qualitative and quantitative data sets and leveraging lightning-speed analysis. They also provide participants with more innovative and engaging ways to give feedback. Spotlight on employee engagement The right engagement platform can facilitate both the public consultation that drives policy and the employee engagement that keeps the organization going. According to Partnership for Public Service, “the latest federal employee engagement score—63.4 out of 100—lags about 12 points behind the private sector mark.” Chances are your employees don’t feel connected to their work or your organizational goals and lack buy-in to your organization’s outcomes. Interested in improving your recruitment and retention efforts with better employee engagement? Download our guide to Employee Retention for Public Sector Organizations. Why responsible AI technology is key With the promise of streamlined workflows and better listening, jumping on the variety of AI technologies is tempting. However, assessing AI vendors for their responsibility, ethics, and safety is paramount—as is developing policies for using AI at your organization. Organizations need to develop governance around AI use to ensure it adheres to their mission and goals and protect the organization. IBM asserts that responsible AI should be a priority for any organization using AI tools, primarily for these three reasons: To manage risk and reputation To adhere to ethical principles To protect and scale against government regulations Microsoft’s principles of responsible AI provide a framework to govern its usage: accountability, inclusiveness, reliability and safety, fairness, transparency, and privacy and security. Accountability: understanding who is responsible for the decisions made by AI systems and ensuring that there’s someone accountable for the outcomes Inclusiveness: ensuring AI use serves diverse populations and doesn’t perpetuate existing inequalities, and being mindful of potential biases in data Reliability and safety: understanding AI makes predictions based on probabilities and has varying levels of accuracy Fairness: being meticulous about the data we feed AI models and constantly checking for biases Transparency: being open regarding the use and capabilities of AI systems Privacy and security: being cautious about the data we feed AI, ensuring the platforms are secure and respectful of the privacy of those whose data we’re handling Selecting responsible AI vendors Understanding how an AI vendor approaches responsible, ethical AI is critical to deciding whether to purchase or not. When looking for AI engagement technologies, consider the following questions: Do they have a responsible AI policy? Do they have an AI governance policy? Do they have policies to mitigate bias in AI? Do they have an AI accountability policy? Do they have goals and ethics around how their AI is used? Do they comply with best-in-class data security regulations and certifications? Do they encrypt and back up data? Do they have comprehensive cybersecurity measures in place? Do they guarantee they won’t sell your participants’ data? Ensuring security: Due to the valuable data they hold, public-serving organizations can be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, including hacking and ransomware. Such attacks can lead to unauthorized access, data loss, and significant operational disruptions. Ensuring any AI vendor you choose has robust cybersecurity measures is crucial to preventing data breaches that could expose sensitive student and staff information for misuse and exploitation. “At ThoughtExchange, we truly value trust, and understand the significance of privacy and data security. When people engage with our platform, they're trusting not just our product, but our integrity, too. So, as we keep pushing the boundaries with AI, we are redefining our security and privacy program to include responsible AI and calling it trust. It's not just about protecting data; it's about honoring the trust our users place in us. And that's something we take very seriously.” Chris Mussell, VP & Chief Trust Officer, ThoughtExchange How AI elevates community voice for better outcomes While public engagement is vital to many organizations, impacting policy and performance, it can be costly and cumbersome. Many organizations still rely on basic quantitative surveys or hire consultants to conduct more in-depth, qualitative research to inform their practices and policies. However, AI’s engagement innovation has transformed how organizations can listen, understand, and empower their communities. Engagement platforms that leverage AI innovation can streamline and shorten the process while providing better insight into community perspectives by providing more personalized, conversational engagement methods, instantly analyzing and summarizing data, and pinpointing action steps. The benefits of AI-enhanced engagement for community voice Community voice is essential to many organizational initiatives and is an exemplary use case for AI technologies. Here’s how the latest in AI is changing public engagement: Deeper engagement: for more voices heard more easily, and access to qualitative data at the speed of quantitative data. Conversational AI surveys to boost participation The ability to mitigate bias and promote equity of voice Qualitative depth, in addition to quantitative rigor Integrated analysis: for less time and money spent on data analysis, and more nuanced insights. Data analysis in real-time, no matter the quantity of data Instant data summary and the ability to incorporate context into the analysis Generative AI that can answer custom analysis prompts Instant actions: for faster and more effective turn-around on feedback initiatives. Recommended actions based on participant alignment and cohorts Fast, custom reporting for funders and public Tailored communications based on engagement data for each cohort "We used ThoughtExchange to give more context to our quantitative numbers. We want to tell [our funder] the story beyond the numbers. We always want to be able to show the perspective of our participants, not just the percentages.” Tofunmi Laleye Program Evaluation Manager, St. John Ambulance Using an AI-powered platform for deeper engagement AI-powered engagement platforms can make gathering, analyzing, and implementing community feedback faster and more streamlined, ensuring organizations keep up with the pace of technology. Look for platforms that use AI to offer the following: Multiple quantitative and qualitative engagement methods Anti-bias technology and multi-language participation for equitable engagement across dispersed workforces Instant in-depth analysis of large data sets Ability to pinpoint ideas with high alignment Ability to identify common ground in polarized groups Fast custom reporting to share results easily Top-notch data security and responsible AI governance The right engagement platform, built with security and privacy at its core, builds trust with your community. Demonstrating how AI can elevate their voices—rather than replace them—will encourage people to embrace new AI software in your organization. “ThoughtExchange has complimented, even changed, the way we engage with our residents. Since Covid, our in-person meetings haven’t seen a return to the attendance we had before the pandemic. That—combined with the fact that not everyone can attend a night meeting due to family obligations, night jobs, and other factors—had us looking for ways we could enhance engagement opportunities. ThoughtExchange helps us meet the community where they are at, allowing folks to give their true thoughts, on their schedule.” Reyne Telles Chief Communications Officer, City of Fort Worth Community voice in the age of AI Leveraging AI engagement platforms to tap into community voice more effectively and efficiently will provide organizations with better, faster insights to act on and build community trust and confidence. At ThoughtExchange, we believe engaging people and acting on their feedback shouldn’t be a lengthy, drawn-out process. So, we built better ways to engage and faster ways to analyze data and take action. Our AI-enhanced engagement platform addresses the historical challenges with public engagement: Slow, shallow feedback processes Cumbersome data analysis Cost of consultants and months of work Employees feeling unheard and disengaged Not meeting engagement expectations of younger generations Higher attrition rates, lower recruitment Using ThoughtExchange, leaders of major organizations have significantly improved their community voice initiatives, leading to healthier cultures, more responsive policies, streamlined operations, and happier communities. Community voice’s importance in the AI era can’t be overstated. Listening to, empowering, and understanding your community partners enhances trust and transparency, improves organizational outcomes, helps communities adapt to change faster, and makes operations more efficient. Ready to bring your public engagement into the age of AI? Let us help you.