Education Department mulls using AI chat bot for FAFSA help

Elon Musk’s Division of Federal government Efficiency apparently recommended the relocation, the Times reported, as component of a more comprehensive initiative to decrease federal costs– which has currently led to dozens if not numerous discharges at the Education Department and the cancellation of hundreds of numerous dollars in agreements at the Institute for Education Sciences.

The Education Division is taking into consideration ending its contracts for hundreds of phone call facility employees worked with to respond to households’ concerns regarding government trainee aid, and may replace them with an artificial intelligence– powered chat bot, The New york city Times reported Thursday.

One of the helplines DOGE is carefully looking at, according to the Times, is run by the consulting firm Accenture. Accenture additionally operates the studentaid.gov website, which houses the on-line system for the Free Application for Federal Student Help. The division’s agreement with the firm expires Feb. 19. According to sources in the Education Department that talked to Within Higher Ed, the department is thinking about significant reductions to its Accenture contract ahead of its revival.

The telephone call centers employ 1,625 individuals who address more than 15,000 calls each day, according to an Education and learning Department report. The division greatly increased staffing at their telephone call centers after in 2015’s ruined launch of the new FAFSA led to a frustrating influx of telephone calls.