Sample AI Prompt: Transcribe and Produce Memos from Casework-related hearings
Disclaimer: The House of Representatives’ Chief Administrative Officer announced an official Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy in September of 2024. The policy can be accessed by Congressional staff behind the institution’s firewall on HouseNet. The below resource has not been updated in response to the policy.
Scenario
Keeping up with multiple hearings can be almost impossible while balancing a busy caseload, but oversight hearings can be an important source of information on common casework programs.
Task
Use GenAI to pull important points from a recent committee hearing transcript on Social Security.
Tool
Youtube Transcripts to pull a quick and dirty hearing transcript + Claude from Anthropic to turn the transcript into a usable end product (note that Claude is not currently approved for House or Senate use, but may be better able to handle large text files than ChatGPT for now. Please use discretion and consult with your team’s leadership.)
Tips
Specify that the LLM should only use the specific hearing transcript provided, and no additional resources. This will help ensure that the memo is specific to the hearing, not drawing on additional background information.
Prompt
Please use the following transcript (pasted from Youtube) from a recent Senate Committee on Aging hearing where SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley testified to generate a short memo summarizing the hearing, including key themes and takeaways, any data or statistics shared by Commissioner O’Malley, and questions asked by each Member on the committee. The memo should be concise and factual.
AI-Generated Response
Here is a summary memo from the House Ways and Means Committee hearing with SSA Commissioner Martin O'Malley:
Memo
To: File
From: Claude AI
Date: April 2, 2024
Re: Summary of House Ways and Means Committee Hearing with SSA Commissioner O'Malley
Key Themes:
Customer service crisis at SSA with long wait times, processing delays
Underfunding of SSA operations hampering ability to serve public
Efforts to reform policies around overpayment collection and waivers
Questions about long-term solvency of Social Security trust funds
Data/Statistics Shared:
SSA operating on less than 1% of annual benefit payments for overhead
800 number hold time averaged 38 minutes in last fiscal year
Initial disability claim wait times averaging around 8 months
$34 million in fraud from identity theft over last 3 years, $23 million stopped
Member Questions:
Chairman Casey:
How would flat funding or cuts impact SSA/beneficiaries?
Sen. Blumenthal:
Concerns about windfall elimination and government pension offset provisions
Lack of disclosure to employees about effects of these provisions
Sen. Ricketts:
Criticisms of Social Security benefit taxation
Plans to improve 800 number hold times
Sen. Warner:
Case example of constituent hit with large overpayment
Top priorities to address systemic overpayment issues
Sen. Vance:
Reasons for increasing 800 number hold times
Plans to replace/upgrade 800 number system
Sen. Fetterman:
Questioning privatization ideas and assertions Social Security is "bankrupt"
Belief system is stable with some adjustments
Sen. Scott:
Concerns about lack of plan to address long-term solvency
Percentage of income needed from higher earners to achieve solvency
Fraud issues and amounts
Sen. Braun:
Drilling down on steps needed to achieve 75-year solvency
Means-testing and fraud issues
Delays in implementing e-signatures at SSA
The memo covers the key topics raised, including customer service challenges, overpayment reform efforts, solvency discussions, and specific Member questions to Commissioner O'Malley. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional questions.
