FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA (7News) — The Fairfax County Department of Family Services (DFS) is the first in the nation to formally pilot artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the social work field, according to Beam.
The goal of these AI tools is to allow caseworkers to spend less time on paperwork and more time on children and families.
Related Topics | House Democratic and Republican media outlets report on the possibility of AI interference in elections
“This is not a replacement for human effort, but a way to support the work of our staff,” said DFS Deputy Director Alicia Blackwell. “For tasks that can be supported by AI, we are definitely bringing in that technology, but we are not removing humans from human services.”
DFS ran a six-week pilot program last fall with Beam, a company that builds self-learning AI agents. Mr Blackwell said staff administrative tasks were reduced by 51% during the pilot. DFS has been tracking AI productivity ever since.
“Being able to really transform the efficiency of these front-line roles is obviously a good thing, not just for them, but for the people of Fairfax who are trying to make as much impact in the community as possible with the money they’re spending on these services,” Beam founder and CEO Alex Stefani told 7News.
Sarah Connor, who has been a foster care and adoption social worker in the county for about three years, said AI saves her a lot of time.
“This technology has really helped me take notes and helped me jump start writing and organizing documents,” she said. “These tasks take much less time and we can focus more on interacting with our clients.”
A Beam spokesperson said the company’s technology is used by more than 75,000 front-line workers in more than 130 government and public sector organizations in the U.S., U.K., Europe and Australia.
