Salesforce launches ‘Einstein 1’ generative AI tool for government

Salesforce on Wednesday announced a public sector version of its “Einstein 1” platform aimed at automating administrative tasks for government employees with artificial intelligence.

The platform is built on the customer relationship management software company’s existing Einstein 1 platform and includes features to transcribe calls for contact center workers and assist caseworkers with generating reports and documenting information.

“This is the kind of work that requires a lot of expertise and there’s never enough people to handle it,” Casey Coleman, senior vice president of global government solutions at Salesforce, told FedScoop in an interview on the sidelines of the company’s conference in Washington. 

Coleman said the system will cut down administrative time for government employees and “leave the experts to do the job of really interacting with people and making sure that the answer is provided to them.”

The announcement came during the company’s “World Tour D.C.” event, which included panels with multiple government customers from agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Internal Revenue Service. 

Other software companies — such as IBM and Microsoft — have also announced new AI tools for government in recent months, as interest in the technology continues to grow in the public sector. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is working to create guidance for procurement of those tools. The Office of Management and Budget is planning action on federal procurement of AI later this year and released a request for information on that work.

Coleman said interest in AI from public sector partners has “spiked up,” particularly for uses related to administrative work and things that can be tested quickly.

“Every conversation we have with public sector customers, or prospective customers, includes AI to some degree,” Coleman said. “Everyone is thinking about it — everyone is looking for use cases to test it on.”

Also on Wednesday, Salesforce announced that its Field Service, Privacy Center and Security Center tools are authorized for FedRAMP’s “high” impact level and the Department of Defense’s “Impact Level 5,” which means they’re cleared to be used with the government’s most sensitive unclassified data. GovSlack also achieved FedRAMP “high” authorization in February.