The AI for Impact Program
In the AI for Impact Program, students build AI products for government and community partners.
Working under the supervision of Santiago Garces, CIO, City of Boston, Beth Simone Noveck, Chief AI Strategist, State of New Jersey, and David Fields, Professor of Education , AI for Impact students take a product from idea to implementation working with communities to create human-centered, civic AI.
In the first 18 months of this “product-based learning” program, teams have worked with partners to deploy 18 products:
A-IEP (Innovate Public Schools)
A-IEP empowers Spanish-speaking parents to understand and act on their child’s special education plans, enabling true advocacy through AI-powered translation and summarization.
GrantWell (Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance)
GrantWell streamlines grant applications for underserved Massachusetts communities by simplifying complex requirements and enhancing narrative quality, unlocking millions in potential funding.
FAIR (New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Division on Civil Rights)
FAIR accelerates civil rights case processing in New Jersey by cutting documentation time from hours to minutes, helping address over 3,000 annual complaints more efficiently.
EASE (New Jersey Economic Development Authority)
EASE speeds up state aid applications for small businesses by flagging issues in real-time, reducing rejections and delays in critical economic development programs.
Election Content Analysis and Improvement Tool (New Jersey Division of Elections)
The Election Content Analysis and Improvement Tool helps New Jersey’s Division of Elections deliver clearer, accessible, and legally accurate web content ahead of major elections, ensuring voters get timely, trustworthy information.
IT Ops Genie (Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services)
IT Ops Genie reduces response time and improves service delivery for Massachusetts IT staff by transforming 700+ documents into an instantly searchable AI assistant.
One L (Massachusetts Operational Services Division)
Cuts procurement legal review time by over 80% by automating contract comparison and redlining, letting attorneys focus on strategic negotiations.
Civic Connect (POPVOX Foundation, Congressman Seth Moulton)
Civic Connect supports Congressional staff in answering more constituent inquiries efficiently, enhancing democratic responsiveness with AI-driven assistance.
Policy Synth (Citizens Foundation, Museum of Science, The Burnes Center)
Policy Synth transforms policymaking with AI agents that identify evidence-based solutions at scale, supporting projects like national literacy efforts and AI governance.
AC Helper (Fair Count)
AC Helper guides low-income families through internet and device benefit enrollment, paving the way for future tools addressing digital access and equity.
GENIE (Massachusetts Executive Office of Technology Services and Security)
GENIE provides 44,000+ Massachusetts state employees with a secure sandbox to safely explore generative AI tools, driving innovation while maintaining data privacy.
HEKA (Massachusetts Department of Transportation)
HEKA empowers MassDOT engineers to design safer roads faster by enabling instant access to highway regulations, cutting search time by 78%.
MBTA Info Hub – The Ride (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority)
The Ride reduces call times and improves service accuracy for disabled riders by equipping MBTA paratransit staff with an AI chatbot trained on real user feedback.
BEACON (Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development)
BEACON connects Massachusetts businesses to underutilized grants and programs by enabling staff and (soon) the public to ask questions and get fast, accurate answers through AI.
A Healthier Democracy AI (Link Health)
A Healthier Democracy AI delivers over $4M in federal aid by helping low-income families apply for benefits directly in healthcare settings via an AI assistant.
ABE (Assistive Buyer Engine) (Massachusetts Operational Services Division)
ABE simplifies complex procurement tasks for Massachusetts buyers by navigating legal documents and automating bid comparisons, saving time and improving compliance.
MassHealth Helper (Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services)
MassHealth Helper equips call center workers with instant answers about healthcare enrollment, reducing wait times for thousands seeking access to MassHealth programs.
MATCH (Massachusetts Academics to Careers Helper) (Massachusetts Executive Office of Education & Massachusetts AI Collaboration for Higher Education)
MATCH helps students—especially ESL learners—navigate Massachusetts public higher education and unlock millions in Pell Grants through personalized academic guidance.
How this Experiential AI Program Works
Students use artificial intelligence and human-centered design to deliver cutting-edge projects that improve lives.
- Four month, paid, full-time job
- Projects centered around social change
- In collaboration with public interest partners
- Human-centered co-design with impacted communities
- Professional technology, product and community engagement mentors
- Deep-dive skill-building workshops to build the AI talent pipeline
Our goal? To deliver working products and create the next generation of AI-enabled leaders.
This program builds on twenty-years of experience building civic technologies with governments, civil society organizations and communities and teaching learners in a hundred countries how to solve public problems using technology.
Key Statistics
50 +
students working on real world generative AI projects
12+
seasoned mentors, including the former tech advisor to the CEO of Google and the CEO/President of Citizens.is
18
client products built
Interested in learning more or developing an AI for Impact product? Reach out to David Fields at
[email protected].
News from AI for Impact
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Massachusetts leans into artificial intelligence
AI for Impact projects MBTA and MassHealth highlighted for improving state grant access, working with Massachusetts Department of Transportation highway design engineers, and creating a…
Jul. 21, 2025 | | Commonwealth -
AI assistant built by Northeastern grad helps MassDOT engineers work faster
Northeastern Global News highlights Sai Panindra Santosh Kumar Majji’s generative artificial intelligence assistant, HEKA.
Jul. 14, 2025 | | Northeastern Global News -
Artificial intelligence: Saving you money, and helping MassDOT build faster
Highlighting the HEKA tool, built by Northeastern co-op students in the Burnes Center’s AI for Impact program.
Jul. 02, 2025 | NBC Boston
Project Gallery
A-IEP
Built with Spanish-speaking caregivers, A-IEP helps families translate, summarize and ask questions of their child’s Individualized Education Plan, empowering them to advocate for their student learning with a disability.
Partner: Innovate Public Schools/AI-EP
CivicConnect
Test the use of of AI to help a Member of Congress respond to constituent questions.
Partner: PopVox Foundation/The GovLab
ACHelper
An AI-enabled chatbot to guide families through the process of enrolling in the federal government’s Affordable Connectivity Program that enables low-income households to save on the purchase of a computer and Internet access.
Partner: Fair Count
PolicySynth
Policy Synth is a first-of-its-kind deep research toolkit which uses AI agents and genetic algorithmics to help policymakers identify, design and implement evidence-based solutions. The toolkit’s open-source AI agents automatically scan and analyze thousands of websites to identify problems and develop solutions. Policy Synth guides the policy maker through the process. The system is designed to be used alongside an AI-enabled process of citizen engagement.
Partner: Museum of Science, Citizens Foundation
MBTA Info Hub – The Ride
Today callers to the MBTA’s paratransit service face long wait times and rerouting among call center operators. This chatbot enables paratransit service workers to answer disabled riders’ questions faster and more accurately, increasing rider satisfaction.
Partner: MBTA – The Ride
MassHealth Helper
Generative AI tool for MassHealth Enrollment Centers (MEC) workers to efficiently reference the large volume of documents about eligibility requirements and application procedures when assisting Commonwealth residents enrolling in MassHealth.
Partner: MassHealth
GrantWell
Assisting Massachusetts municipalities, environmental justice groups, rural towns, and historically-underserved communities to apply for federal and state grant, grant-matching, and tax-break opportunities.
Partner: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA)
HEKA: Highway Engineer Knowledge Agent
The Highway Engineer Knowledge Agent chatbot empowers design engineers in the MassDOT Highway Division to efficiently query department manuals and documentation, aiding in the design of quicker and safer infrastructure projects for commuters in Massachusetts. (Launched in Fall 2024)
Partner: Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT)
BEACON (Business Enhancement and Assistance Center for Optimized Navigation)
Generative AI tool to help workers respond efficiently and accurately to inquiries from Commonwealth businesses regarding available state grants, programs, and resources.
Partner: Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED)
GENIE (Generative AI Experimentation and Innovation Environment)
A safe sandbox for Commonwealth employees to experiment with using Generative AI tools in their work. Unlike publicly available AI tools such as ChatGPT, which train on the users data, GENIE is designed with the specific needs of state employees in mind.
Partner: Massachusetts Executive Office of Technology Services and Security
MATCH (Massachusetts Academics to Careers Helper)
Generative AI tool to help prospective students explore programs, courses, and career trajectories across the Commonwealth’s public higher education institutions.
Partner: Massachusetts Executive Office of Education and the Massachusetts AI Collaboration for Higher Education
ABE (Assistive Buyer Agent)
Generative AI tool to enhance the procurement process for state buyers by enabling efficient navigation of procedures and regulations and offering support in understanding their application.
Partner: Massachusetts Operational Services Division (OSD)
A Healthier Democracy AI
Helping low-income residents apply for unclaimed Federal Aid benefits in a healthcare setting. This AI assistant helps low income families apply for benefits in the emergency room.
Partner: Link Health
EASE (Entrepreneurial Application Screening Engine)
AI tool that validates tax clearance documents by flagging potential issues and provides real-time error detection for applicants. The system aims to streamline application processing for small businesses seeking state aid.
Partner: New Jersey Economic Development Authority
FAIR (Fast AI-Assisted Investigation & Review)
AI system that assists with drafting verified complaints, generating document requests, and creating targeted interview questions for civil rights cases. The tool will help the agency handle increasing complaint volumes more efficiently.
Partner: New Jersey Attorney General’s Office Division on Civil Rights
Election Content Analysis and Improvement Tool
To help the NJ Division of Elections share accurate and timely information ahead of a gubernatorial election and anticipated changes to election law, this AI tool analyzes website content against established content guidelines and identifies unclear, redundant, inaccessible texts side-by-side by revised text suggestions.
Partner: New Jersey Secretary of State’s Office
Ops Genie is an AI-powered assistant designed to help HHS staff efficiently retrieve accurate answers from a curated library of over 700 internal documents, including policies, procedures, and FAQs.
Partner: Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS)
One L
One L is a generative AI tool designed to accelerate legal review in the state procurement process by automatically comparing vendor submissions against Massachusetts’ standard contract terms. It flags conflicts, generates redlines, and provides concise rationales to assist attorneys in focusing on complex negotiations rather than repetitive markup tasks.
Partner: Executive Office of Administration and Finance (Operational Services Division) (A&F)
AI for Impact Co-Ops
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Pradnya Balamurugan
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Marlon Peña Crespo
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Sahana Dhar
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Emily Inga
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Isabella Iype
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Arnav Jaiswal
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Dhruv Kamalesh Kumar
AI for Impact Team -
Ashley La Rotonda
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Bonisha Maitra
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Simel Noori
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Anjith Prakash Chathan Kandy
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Srihari Raman
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Nina Salamatova
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Sachin Shrestha
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Jose Sosa
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Jai Surya
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Neha Tummala
AI For Impact Co-Op -
Sam Yuen
AI For Impact Co-Op
AI for Impact Team
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Beth Noveck
Director, The Burnes Center for Social Change -
Santiago “Santi” Garces
AI for Impact Technical Lead and Senior Fellow -
Erhardt Graeff
Senior Fellow and Visiting FacultyErhardt Graeff is an educator, social scientist, public interest technologist, and public official. He is a Senior Fellow at the Burnes Center for Social Change…
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David Fields
Professor of Practice and Senior Fellow -
Steven Kadish
Senior Fellow -
Róbert Bjarnason
Senior Fellow -
Henri Hammond-Paul
Fellow -
Anirudh Dinesh
CTO -
Cory Ondrejka
Senior Fellow -
Dane Gambrell
Research Fellow -
Sofía Bosch Gómez
Assistant Professor and Fellow -
Dan Jackson
Senior Fellow and Director of NuLawLab