For the past twenty years of my career in the tech industry (yes, I’m getting old, I know), software engineering has been beautifully, comfortably (and thankfully) deterministic. That means that you write a line of code, you define an exact input, and you expect a completely predictable output. Then you assert those with deterministic tests suites.

For a long time, the expression “innovation in the public sector” has felt like a bit of an oxymoron. If you, like me, have spent any time navigating the enterprise tech landscape over the years, you know that the moment a project involves a school district, a university, or a government agency, the creative energy in the room instantly drops by about at least 80%. That’s just a fact. I even remember fellow colleagues saying “Oh, I would rather be in commercial than in Public Sector”.

If you have been following my posts here for a while (I know, I’ve been away for the course of last few months; life gets in the way sometimes, doesn’t it?), you probably know how much I love drawing parallels between different tech revolutions (I am a bit of a history and technology nerd, so sue me :)).

Functional illiteracy represents a profound and often underestimated challenge across the globe, confronting governments and societies worldwide. Far more complex than the mere inability to read or write, it signifies a deficit in the practical application of literacy skills necessary for navigating the demands of modern life. This article delves into the intricate nature of functional illiteracy, quantifies its pervasive impact across economic, health, and civic spheres, and explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (especially Generative AI) in fostering a more literate and equitable global society. It also introduces an open-source initiative we’ve been piloting at Google that targets that very need.