Microsoft’s Nelli Babayan on data privacy in government AI

Nelli Babayan, Microsoft’s AI Director, US Federal Civilian, discussed the challenges of implementing AI in government services, emphasizing data security and privacy. She highlighted the importance of secure data governance, ensuring data remains private and is not used for training models. Microsoft’s approach includes security by design in operations, with data encrypted and tools for identity and access management. Babayan also stressed the need to carefully select AI use cases to ensure meaningful proof of concept and pilot projects before scaling.