Officials Say Automation Won’t Replace Humans

November 17, 2021 by Victoria Turner
Officials Say Automation Won’t Replace Humans
(Photo by Alex Knight via Unsplash)

WASHINGTON — Automation will not replace people nor take their jobs, according to two government officials who are implementing robotic process automation programs at federal agencies. 

In fact, automation will allow federal employees to accomplish more than that they could have otherwise, said Gabrielle Perret, director of the Federal RPA Community of Practice at the automation division of the U.S. General Administration Services. Perret spoke during Tuesday’s Brookings Institution event entitled, “How robotic process and intelligent automation are remaking federal agencies.”  

Recently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was tasked by the Government Accountability Office to process 7 million pending applications for immigration cases by Sept. 30, said Meikle Paschal, Jr., program manager of RPA at USCIS. When USCIS got the directive, only 5 million of these applications had been processed with employees having to scan seven separate databases to ensure the accurate consolidation of data.  

“We had 2 million left and a little bit over a month to complete it,” he said, but having built an automation process within three weeks, they were able to process those 2 million cases in 90 minutes instead of the typical 16 months it would have taken to do so manually.  

Automation improves the services provided not only for citizens, but for federal employees as well, Perret said. Since its 2019 launch, she added, the RPA Community of Practice has increased to 1200 federal members, representing 65 federal agencies and bureaus.  

“Automation isn’t going to take your job. Automation is just connecting the data and the systems in a way that allows us to make better decisions at the end of the day,” Paschal explained, as it is based on a repeated process that can be replicated to free up federal employees’ time away and allow for critical thinking.  

“A lot of these systems are processing the same type of information. These automations are just making sure that it’s done consistently, so that [employees] don’t spend hours trying to solve a problem that might have been something that was typed in wrong,” he explained.  

This will further allow the agencies to prioritize their tasks, he added, as USCIS could choose to automate processes like the manual transcription of data from paper to digital. This is particularly important, he added, to the government’s modernization efforts to update its systems in its technical and digital transformation.  

“We need automation to bridge the gap” while the U.S. waits for this whole-of-government modernization, he explained. It can be a long-term solution to some processes, he said, or a “very powerful tool that can help you in the midterms while you’re still looking for that long-term solution.”  

Aside from the fear that automation may eliminate jobs, the other common concern is the security surrounding implementing RPA, both officials said. But the USCIS implemented governance that can be repeated and replicated across agencies, with the same security gates and the checks to make sure that their bots were being built responsibility, Paschal said. 

“If somebody were trying to do something nefarious, they’re going to find a way to do it, but they’re not going to do it through automation because we’ve locked down what that bot can do,” he charged. “Bots don’t make mistakes; they do what they’re programmed to do.”  

Victoria can be reached at [email protected] 

A+
a-
  • automation
  • Brookings Institution
  • Think Tanks
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Technology

    House Passes Bill That Would Lead to TikTok Ban if Chinese Owner Doesn't Sell. Senate Path Unclear

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn't sell, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company's current ownership structure is a national security threat. The bill, passed by... Read More

    In New York City, Heat Pumps That Fit in Apartment Windows Promise Big Emissions Cuts

    NEW YORK (AP) — For 27 years, the heat in Regina Fred’s Queens apartment building came from a noisy steam... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — For 27 years, the heat in Regina Fred’s Queens apartment building came from a noisy steam radiator that she couldn't control and sometimes didn't come on at all, leaving her shivering. Sometimes, the radiators ran so hot that residents had to keep... Read More

    March 7, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Congress Warned US Competition for Biotechnology Creates Promises and Perils

    WASHINGTON — New scientific discoveries mean the future is bright for biotechnology but laced with many dangers in the competition... Read More

    WASHINGTON — New scientific discoveries mean the future is bright for biotechnology but laced with many dangers in the competition with China, according to expert witnesses at a congressional hearing Wednesday. China’s military dominance of its industries means its biotechnology could be used to find weaknesses... Read More

    March 7, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Protect Americans Against Foreign Adversaries

    WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill in the House seeks to protect Americans from the prying eyes of foreign adversaries by... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill in the House seeks to protect Americans from the prying eyes of foreign adversaries by tightening their reins on ByteDance applications, including TikTok. The bill, introduced by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., aims to empower... Read More

    Americans Reporting Nationwide Cellular Outages From AT&T, Cricket Wireless and Others

    A number of Americans are dealing with cellular outages on AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers, according... Read More

    A number of Americans are dealing with cellular outages on AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile and other service providers, according to data from Downdetector. AT&T had more than 73,000 outages around 9:30 a.m. ET, in locations including Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. The outages began at approximately... Read More

    February 9, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    FCC Bans Robocalls Using Voices Generated by Artificial Intelligence

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission released a decision Thursday to ban robocalls with voices generated by artificial intelligence. The... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission released a decision Thursday to ban robocalls with voices generated by artificial intelligence. The FCC said the robocalls play key roles in rising rates of sophisticated scams, such as calls before the New Hampshire primary last month using the voice... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top