Modernizing Public Benefits with AI Innovation

A New Approach to Public Services

In 2025, the U.S. government launched the Public Benefit Innovation Fund. It offers five million dollars in grants for projects that use AI to improve public benefit programs.

The fund supports work at the state, local, and tribal levels. It focuses on making systems simpler, faster, and fairer for the people who use them.

The goal is to fix common problems in public services using smart and people-focused technology.

What the Fund Supports

The fund gives grants to early projects that solve real issues in public programs. These include food aid, healthcare, housing, and income support.

Some project ideas include

• Tools that check eligibility faster

•  Easier applications with fewer documents

•  Digital forms in more than one language

•  Dashboards to track services in real time

•  Systems that help workers manage cases better

All tools are built for public agencies. They must be easy to use, safe for users, and designed to solve real needs.

Why It Matters

Many people struggle to access public benefits. The process is often slow, confusing, and full of paperwork. Government workers are also stretched thin, and systems are outdated.

This fund helps solve these problems. It gives teams the support to build and test new tools. These tools save time, reduce mistakes, and make services fairer.

Because the grants do not require giving up ownership, teams can keep control of their ideas and focus on helping people.