Targeted AI adoption can drive change, current and former officials say

Agencies “don't need the fanciest AI model on the marketplace” to enhance their customer-facing operations, according to former VA Chief Experience Officer John Boerstler.

Federal agencies need to be strategic and forward-thinking when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence tools to enhance their missions, current and former officials said on Thursday during the Nextgov/FCW and ATARC public health IT summit.

John Boerstler, the general manager of Federal at Granicus who served as chief experience officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs from February 2021 through September 2024, said the agency has successfully scaled its uses of AI tools to better serve retired servicemembers. He cautioned, however, that “we need to really be careful about the implementation and in managing expectations, both internally and externally on how we use it.”

VA’s 2025 AI use case inventory, which was released last month, listed 367 examples of the department looking ...