Our philosophy

Generative artificial intelligence has revolutionized what’s possible to achieve with technology. Today’s algorithms can automate rote work, parse large volumes of data, and help people make informed choices. These futuristic capabilities could supercharge public sector capacity—if used responsibly.

But this future has yet to reach our government. Most public sector agencies struggle to incorporate modern technology, a capacity gap that only grows as innovation accelerates.

In the rare instance where government has managed to adopt generative AI, there are widespread concerns about its aggressive or misguided use.

In the meantime, festering policy problems like inequality and climate change continue to plague our society.

What if generative artificial intelligence were mobilized to help government tackle today’s urgent challenges?

Our mission at the ADAPPT Lab is to make this vision a reality.

We devise new approaches in generative artificial intelligence, machine learning, and statistics, and integrate these novel methods into software we develop. We then deploy this technology to target pressing policy problems, with a focus on doing so in a responsible and ethical manner.

Our unique hands-on approach combines public and private sector partnerships, robust evaluation, and an open-source mindset to produce measurable and sustainable impacts.

This approach has repeatedly succeeded in influencing legislation and high-stakes policy decisions, improving outcomes for people across America, especially those affected by unfair or ineffective systems and practices.

Our approach

We focus on the ways that technology can help achieve goals in the public interest, leveraging modern advances in:

Generative artificial intelligence
Machine learning
Applied statistics
Software development

In our lab, we develop interventions that promise to address contemporary crises in multiple public policy settings, including in:

Criminal justice
Education
Human services
Public benefits

A key focus of our research is understanding how to deploy technology in a responsible and ethical way, an approach which is especially important for high-stakes settings across government.

Many of the problems we focus on persist due to market failures and lack of proven demand. We pursue high-impact interventions unlikely to emerge on their own, yet capable of transforming into self-sustaining initiatives.

Our goals

As an applied research lab, we are committed to turning scientific and technical innovation into real-world impact.

Our work is guided by three core goals:

Real-world collaboration

We partner directly with government agencies at no cost to our partners. Our partners provide crucial domain expertise, allowing us to understand critical policy problems that are invisible to traditional academic researchers. We address our partners’ top priorities through real-world pilots and evaluations.

Rigorous evaluation

Every intervention we design is tested in real-world pilot experiments. Because even well-intentioned interventions can yield unexpected outcomes, rigorous evaluation is not just good practice, it is an ethical imperative, especially in high-stakes policy contexts. Unlike public or private sector partners, we are incentivized to openly publish and learn from what we find, even if it surprises us.

Scalable solutions