ChatCDC - CDC Enterprise Generative AI Chatbot (Software Development)

Section 1: Use Case Identifiers

Use Case ID: HHS-CDC-00037
Agency: HHS
Op Div/Staff Div: CDC
Use Case Topic Area: Mission-Enabling (internal agency support)
Is the AI use case found in the below list of general commercial AI products and services?
None of the above.
What is the intended purpose and expected benefits of the AI?
CDC has an internal productivity tool available to all CDC staff which can be used in a variety of ways. This use case covers staff who will be using this general purpose to assist with the development of software code which can be used for research, data analysis, software development, or other such systems. Currently, CDC has internal Generative AI guidance determining how this tool can be used, and individual Centers, institutes, or Offices may implement their own policy to ensure safe and responsible AI.

When the AI chatbot is being used for coding assistance or software development, it affects several business processes related to agency operations and core task structures. Specifically, it can be utilized by various personnel within an organization such as the CDC, including software programmers using AI-specific code, those involved in encoding for software development, data analysts, scientific researchers conducting data analysis, data scientists implementing and testing new models, and software engineers developing or updating applications.
The chatbot enhances productivity and efficiency across these roles by providing coding assistance and acting as a learning tool. For instance, data engineers may use the chatbot to generate PySpark code for their data transformation scripts within a larger pipeline. Additionally, individuals new to programming languages like Python can leverage the chatbot as a tutor to help them with tasks such as cleaning up datasets for evaluation purposes.
In summary, the AI chatbot impacts business processes by aiding staff members in performing complex analytical tasks more efficiently and supporting their development work through guided coding assistance. This ultimately contributes to enhancing overall operations within the agency by streamlining research activities and internal process workflows.
Describe the AI system's outputs.
This chatbot, powered by Azure OpenAI Large Language Models, will generate responses to questions asked by the user, in this case about either some software code, software code documentation, code concepts, or to help generate software code. The chatbot's output can then be copied and pasted or manually entered into the appropriate testing process by the staff to ensure any code used from the chatbot's output meets the criteria of the current task.
Stage of Development: Operation and Maintenance
Is the AI use case rights-impacting, safety-impacting, both, or neither?
Neither

Section 2: Use Case Summary

Date Initiated: 10/2023
Date when Acquisition and/or Development began: 11/2023
Date Implemented: 02/2024
Date Retired: N/A
Was the AI system involved in this use case developed (or is it to be developed) under contract(s) or in-house?
Developed with both contracting and in-house resources.
Provide the Procurement Instrument Identifier(s) (PIID) of the contract(s) used.
N/A
Is this AI use case supporting a High-Impact Service Provider (HISP) public-facing service?
N/A
Does this AI use case disseminate information to the public?
No
How is the agency ensuring compliance with Information Quality Act guidelines, if applicable?
N/A
Does this AI use case involve personally identifiable information (PII) that is maintained by the agency?
No
Has the Senior Agency Official for Privacy (SAOP) assessed the privacy risks associated with this AI use case?
ongoing

Section 3: Data and Code

Do you have access to an enterprise data catalog or agency-wide data repository that enables you to identify whether or not the necessary datasets exist and are ready to develop your use case?
No
Describe any agency-owned data used to train, fine-tune, and/or evaluate performance of the model(s) used in this use case.
Yes. A series of pilot projects was conducted to evaluate the performance of this chatbot and these pilot projects are included within this inventory.
Is there available documentation for the model training and evaluation data that demonstrates the degree to which it is appropriate to be used in analysis or for making predictions?
Documentation is widely available
Which, if any, demographic variables does the AI use case explicitly use as model features?
N/A
Does this project include custom-developed code?
Yes
If the code is open-source, provide the link for the publicly available source code.
N/A

Section 4: AI Enablement and Infrastructure

Does this AI use case have an associated Authority to Operate (ATO) for an AI system?
Yes
System Name: Enterprise Data Analytics and Visualization (EDAV) Platform
How long have you waited for the necessary developer tools to implement the AI use case?
Less than 6 months
For this AI use case, is the required IT infrastructure provisioned via a centralized intake form or process inside the agency?
Yes
Do you have a process in place to request access to computing resources for model training and development of the AI involved in this use case?
Yes
Has communication regarding the provisioning of your requested resources been timely?
Yes
How are existing data science tools, libraries, data products, and internally-developed AI infrastructure being re-used for the current AI use case?
Use of existing data platforms
Has information regarding the AI use case, including performance metrics and intended use of the model, been made available for review and feedback within the agency?
Documentation has been published