Public Sector Summit<\/a> on May 19 in Washington, D.C., where he\u2019ll challenge the AI hype, explore the public sector\u2019s current landscape, and provide practical guidance for empowering agencies, teams and their missions.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, here\u2019s a sneak peek at three key elements for success through AI and data literacy. One hint: It\u2019s all about the humans.<\/p>\n
Live by the \u201cThree Cs\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see the ability to make better public sector decisions, and being able to read and understand and analyze data is even more important than ever,\u201d Morrow said. \u201cSo I have what I call my three Cs of data and AI literacy. And in the public sector, they\u2019re probably the most important thing a person can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Be curious, be creative and think critically are Morrow\u2019s three Cs, and they serve as a foundation particularly for public sector users. Considering the access to huge swaths of data, these three tenets can help best inform and frame policy-setting, decision-making and creative tool-building that augments and elevates the workforce.<\/p>\n
These concepts also help public sector users think creatively to build smart narratives \u2013 an approach that may feel novel to some. But it goes hand-in-hand with the critical thinking and curiosity to implement data and AI as gamechangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a great book by David McCraney called \u2018How Minds Change.\u2019 And you find very quickly data does not change a person\u2019s mind, even if you could put it right in front of them,\u201d Morrow said. \u201cIt\u2019s narrative and stories that change a person\u2019s mind, but you need them backed up by good data.\u201d<\/p>\n
Embrace the unfamiliar<\/p>\n
Within the sweeping vortex of AI hype, there\u2019s a lot of negative sentiment: fear, fatigue, discomfort, skepticism. Even Morrow admits to feeling some of it. However, he remains relentless focused on the positive aspects, and it\u2019s a key characteristic of his teachings.<\/p>\n
Not understanding AI is a major factor of why it feels, to many, too nebulous and powerful to take on. People often don\u2019t realize that everyone is data literate to some degree; it\u2019s a matter of recognizing, building and leveraging that knowledge. As Morrow puts it, it\u2019s just part of the human journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about humans versus AI. It\u2019s about, how do we engineer intelligence to make smarter decisions? I\u2019ve got a formula on this,\u201d he said. \u201cEngineered intelligence = data + AI + IQ + EQ. Two parts tech, two parts human. And the most important one out of all four of those elements is emotional intelligence. Because 90% to 99% of people aren\u2019t AI professionals \u2013 how do we evolve and grow with it, versus fear and be superseded by it? It takes effort, but when you do that, people latch on and they get more comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The comfort level with data literacy \u2013 and with continuously improving it \u2013 is especially important for the public sector, whose users can help usher in transformational change with the data they have. But doing that in such a regulated environment requires a certain level of data literacy, ideally achieved at least in part through workforce programs.<\/p>\n
Everyone has a seat at this table \u2013 but to eat, put in the work<\/p>\n
That AI vortex that\u2019s rife with dystopian tropes is the same one spinning promises of silver bullets galore. The reality lies somewhere between the extremes. That means generative AI isn\u2019t a panacea; sometimes a simple spreadsheet is the better solution.<\/p>\n
How does one understand which solution is best for a given problem? To start, know that everything in AI and the data ecosystem breaks down to a puzzle piece \u2013 \u201cmeaning, in the end, the puzzle picture comes together,\u201d Morrow said.<\/p>\n
Learning to decipher the pieces and put together the puzzle is an undertaking, and it\u2019s one that must come with significant grounding in reality. But it\u2019s also an undertaking that\u2019s inclusive; anyone can do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has a seat at this table. But I want to clarify that just because you sit at a table, the food doesn\u2019t jump into your mouth, right? We have to take some initiative on what that means,\u201d Morrow said. \u201cIt means 15 or 20 minutes a day, sit there and use AI. Read articles. Find out how you can be augmented and be building engineered intelligence for yourself. Just take some time to learn it. The key is taking the mindset, \u2018I can do this and I have a place in this.\u2019 Everyone in the public sector needs to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hear more from Jordan Morrow by registering for Qlik\u2019s 2026 Public Sector Summit<\/a>.<\/p>\nCopyright
\n \u00a9\u00a02026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Morrow is one of the world\u2019s leading experts on data and AI, the architect behind the field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,16739,1865],"class_list":{"0":"post-24691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-jordan-morrow","11":"tag-qlik"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}