Artificial intelligence (AI) was a major topic at Appian Government 2024, the premier event for public sector digital transformation leaders and mission owners.
Appian brings a government mentality to AI. For 25 years, we have focused on serving public sector organizations, prioritizing what matters to federal agencies.
We understand commercial enterprises and government organizations differ in many ways. Important issues that affect the federal government’s approach to AI include:
Risk tolerance. Government agencies need to prioritize stability and compliance. Commercial entities are more inclined toward rapid innovation and calculated risks.
Data and privacy. Government agencies manage highly sensitive citizen and national security data, so privacy and security are paramount. Commercial entities focus on customer data at various levels of sensitivity, with varied approaches to data use and monetization.
Appian’s private AI approach
Appian takes a private approach to AI to ensure that data remains secure. Appian lets you train your own models within your own environment. No one else can access them. And we don't train any AI models on your own data.
We also provide access and security controls to further prevent your data from unauthorized access. Your organization retains full control and ownership of your data, avoiding potential risks from unauthorized access or exposure of your proprietary data.
5 key aspects of Appian AI for federal government agencies
1. Auditable
Often, AI is a black box. When it gives you an odd or incorrect answer, you can’t tell where the deviation came from. But Appian AI is fully auditable. If you discover faulty outputs, you can trace the source of the input data and correct it, and your AI will never reference it again.
Humans can review, trace, and verify the system’s decisions, actions, and data processing to ensure accuracy. This enhances:
Transparency. The AI's operations, algorithms, and decision-making processes are open and understandable, allowing auditors to see how the AI reached its outcomes.
Record keeping. The AI system logs data inputs, processing steps, and decisions so that each action can be traced back to specific causes.
Accountability. An auditable AI enables organizations to identify errors or biases and hold the system accountable for its outputs.
Compliance. The system meets regulatory and legal standards for transparency, data handling, and fairness.
Auditability is crucial in government, where accuracy, accountability, and transparency are essential.
2. Stateless
As a stateless AI system, Appian doesn’t retain any memory or contextual information between interactions or tasks. This means it treats each interaction as independent and does not "remember" past conversations or states unless explicitly given the data for each session. Here’s a breakdown of what this means in practice:
No session memory. Stateless AI processes each request in isolation, without information about prior interactions or inputs from the same user.
No accumulated context. It doesn’t carry over user preferences, past queries, or prior responses from one interaction to the next.
Reliance on input. Each response or action depends entirely on the current input, with no influence from historical interactions.
Stateless AI is more secure than “stateful” AI because it doesn’t retain user-provided data between sessions. It’s informed with your data only at the moment a question is asked, and then only with the most pertinent information selected through our data fabric. Your data is then forgotten by the algorithm, leaving the AI again stateless, before the next prompt. This is the way to maximize data privacy and AI control. This prevents any sensitive information from being shared or accessed by others and ensures each user’s security level is maintained independently.
3. FedRAMP Moderate
The US federal government requires strong compliance certifications like FedRAMP Moderate. Appian AI meets this standard, ensuring that the tool meets strict security and compliance standards required to handle sensitive, unclassified government data. Here’s why it’s important:
Data security. FedRAMP Moderate ensures that the AI tool has strong security controls to protect sensitive information, reducing risks of data breaches or unauthorized access.
Compliance with federal government standards. Federal agencies are required to use cloud and AI services that comply with FedRAMP, so FedRAMP Moderate authorization is a baseline requirement for adoption.
Risk management. FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to security for cloud products and services used by federal agencies, setting strict controls for data protection, incident response, and vulnerability management. This helps prevent risks like accidental data loss or exposure to cyber threats.
Interagency use. FedRAMP-authorized tools simplify interagency collaboration because other agencies can use them without duplicating security assessments, saving time and resources.
FedRAMP Moderate is a mark of trust that enables the safe, secure deployment of AI in sensitive government operations.
4. Zero training
Much of Appian's AI doesn't require any model training on your part. For example, our generative AI agents allow you to add a generative AI prompt into a process without building your own model. It’s valuable for several reasons:
Faster deployment. Without training, the tool can be implemented and put to use immediately, accelerating the time to value.
Ease of use. A zero-training tool is typically designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it accessible to a broader range of users with varying technical skills.
Consistent results. With no training requirements, all users can rely on the tool to produce consistent outcomes based on input and in consideration of security authorizations, without the variability that can result from different training levels.
5. Security-graded
Appian AI has undergone a formal evaluation to assess its security capabilities and risks. This grading classifies the AI tool’s security level based on how well it meets predefined standards, typically according to government or industry-specific guidelines. Key aspects of our security-graded AI include:
Risk classification. The AI is rated based on the sensitivity of the data it handles, the potential impact of security breaches, and the environments in which it operates (e.g., public, confidential, or classified).
Compliance certification. Appian AI holds specific security certifications, such as FedRAMP for US government tools and ISO/IEC certifications for commercial use, which validate that it meets industry standards.
Access controls. The AI system enforces strict controls for user authentication, data encryption, and access to ensure data protection based on the user's security level.
Resilience and protection. The AI is evaluated for its ability to prevent, contain, and minimize impacts of cyber threats, data leaks, or misuse.
As security-graded AI, Appian AI is a trustworthy choice for applications that require strict data protection, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience.
Source data across the enterprise
To provide accurate and meaningful responses, AI relies on access to the right data—relevant, current, and comprehensive information from across the organization. Without this, AI outputs may be incomplete, misleading, or even inaccurate, limiting its value for decision-making, insights, and automation. Data quality and completeness allow AI models to make informed analyses, as they draw conclusions based on patterns in the available data. Disparate, siloed systems that are commonplace in government environments is an obstacle to this.
When AI can connect to the right sources—with the proper access controls based on each user’s permissions—it delivers responses that are not only better informed but also more actionable, enhancing the value it provides to users while still protecting data privacy.
Appian data fabric powers strong AI performance by enabling it to access all systems and storage locations without having to move or duplicate data. But it also reinforces privacy with security and access controls. In short, even though it can access data, you retain control over who can access what data, preventing unauthorized access.
Our data fabric eliminates data silos and reduces the complexities of data integration, enabling AI to pull data directly from its original source. By ensuring data accessibility and integrity, data fabric empowers Appian AI to generate responses based on a holistic, up-to-date picture, making its outputs more thorough, precise, and valuable.
