Massachusetts Commonwealth Partners with Northeastern University Students to Apply Artificial Intelligence for Public Benefit
Northeastern University Students Use AI to Improve Life for Massachusetts Residents
In a groundbreaking initiative, the commonwealth of Massachusetts recruited 12 Northeastern University students to work full time on applying artificial intelligence to enhance the lives of Massachusetts residents. Through the InnovateMA program, these students spent their spring semester working on five projects for different government agencies, ranging from transportation to health care to grant distribution.
One of the key projects undertaken by the students was the creation of the RIDE Guide for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, a door-to-door, shared-ride service for individuals with disabilities who are unable to use traditional public transportation. Additionally, they developed the MassHealth Helper chatbot for MassHealth, a tool to assist call center staff and public professionals in navigating policy documents quickly and providing comprehensive information to the public.
The students also worked on projects such as the Grants Navigator for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the DOTBot for the Department of Transportation, and the Generative AI Sandbox for state employees to explore new AI models and applications securely.
Beth Simone Noveck, director of the Burges Center for Social Change at Northeastern, praised the students’ progress, stating, “In 20 years of doing this work, I have never seen students make as much progress as our AI for Impact students have made in this last semester.”
Dhruv Kumar, a student in the program, expressed his excitement about the impact of the projects, saying, “The projects that I build have a huge impact on the employees of the commonwealth as well as the general population, so that’s been super rewarding for me.”
The success of the program has led to plans for enlisting a new cohort of AI for Impact Co-op students every six months to continue building AI products for government agencies and civic organizations. Governor Maura Healey has also created a task force to study AI’s impact on the state and proposed an economic development bill with funding for an Applied AI Hub to support further AI projects across state infrastructures.
With the potential to solve challenging public problems and serve residents more effectively, AI initiatives like InnovateMA are positioning Massachusetts as a global leader in applied AI, leveraging the state’s world-class colleges and universities to drive innovation and progress.
