Fairfax County doesn’t want to be left behind in what’s looking like an artificial intelligence arms race.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors Council for Economic Opportunity on Tuesday (June 3), regional government and private sector leaders discussed plans to assemble an AI Coalition.
Fairfax County leaders said part of their goal is to become a leader in AI technology and facilitate a business community that’s fully adopting and training workers on AI.
“We’re in such a sweet spot with Fairfax County,” said Sheryll Manoj, president and CEO of the Herndon-based tech company AttainX Inc. “[But] if we don’t act now, we’ll get left behind.”
Manoj said a coalition can be a unifying force to “make sure everyone is using the same data,” describing the proposed group as a coordinated effort to share the wealth of knowledge.
“No one entity can do it alone,” Manoj said. “No one can take AI and implement it in all their different agencies. We need to work off of each other.”
As leaders around the table discussed the future of AI, they focused mostly on the technology’s potential to improve efficiency in businesses, with very little discussion of its impact on the environment or displaced workers.
One person at the table noted that while Fairfax County is “the data center capital of the world,” the county still doesn’t have the energy necessary to power the AI revolution leaders were discussing. Northern Virginia already suffers from an intense demand in energy, thanks to its sprawling data centers.
Matt Kull, chief information and digital officer at Inova Health System, said AI could replace up to 40% of the work currently being done in hospitals.
“60% of all work that happens in healthcare is language — typing, communicating, research — so 60% of work at a hospital is available with today’s AI, which means 40% of work being done at a hospital today will be replaced by AI,” Kull said.
In a follow-up email, Inova communications representative Tracy Connell said the goal is to “automate and unburden the work of the care team.”
According to Connell:
The reference to a 40% reduction is related to that work – e.g. charting, notes, etc. – that takes away from direct patient care. The delivery of future healthcare supported by AI will enable providers to spend more time with patients as well as meet the needs of the health system in a more efficient way.
Matt also cited the biggest challenge with this technological unlock is implementation, so there is no expectation that these gains will necessarily impact healthcare providers and team members at Inova or other hospitals in the near term – though improvements are underway to help unburden administrative tasks and meet the community health needs. All of this supports more efficient, cost-effective healthcare in an era of healthcare workforce shortages that are expected to continue for the next decade.
Representatives at the table also discussed implementation of AI-based education at younger ages.
“College is too late,” said Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik. “I’m excited to hear we’re talking about [education on AI] from 9th grade and up.”
Others at the table said even 9th grade is too late, suggesting schools should start teaching students how to navigate and use AI at the elementary level.
After the meeting, Palchik told FFXnow that the ways AI will impact job markets around the region also highlights the need for Northern Virginia to address its cost-of-living crisis.
“My big concern is the cost of living, and housing being the number one cost of living, followed by childcare,” Palchik said. “For families like mine, in their 40s or 50s, they’re figuring out ‘can I stay here through this flux? Will I be rehired?'”
Palchik also said job losses due to the adoption of AI won’t happen overnight, and Fairfax should do more to prepare. The coalition could help the county understand “how do we stay abreast of the change and bring the different perspectives for what we’re trying to protect.”
At the meeting, John Serafini, CEO of HawkEye 360 in Herndon, said Fairfax is lagging behind Silicon Valley in terms of creating a tech-friendly environment.
“East Coast venture capital has not caught up to the West Coast. It’s not as business friendly,” said Serafini. “You’ve got Stanford pumping out kids who wake up wanting to work at start ups. We just don’t have that here.”
Others, however, said Fairfax should work on carving out a niche separate from Silicon Valley.
“Let’s not try to compete with Silicon Valley,” Palchik said. “What are the things we’re good at here? We do have government and healthcare and defense infrastructure. How do we think about how AI impacts those industries where we already have so many headquarters based here?”
The proposed mission statement of the coalition is to “empower every Fairfax County business and their workers to quickly adopt and govern practical and safe AI tools that enhance productivity, creativity and job efficiency.”
But Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay argued the mission needs to be stronger and more direct.
“I think this implies it’s not already in this area,” said McKay. “This needs to be far more aggressive and presume this is part of our daily life already.”
