The founders have spent a lot of time over the past few years building practical consumer use cases for AI and machine learning. Her Advocate, an AI startup, believes the technology will make it easier for people to apply for federal benefits.
The New York-based startup was founded by Emily Poteet, who came up with the idea while watching her stepfather try to collect Social Security benefits. Although he was eligible, the application process was complicated for him, and even if he applied, he would spend months waiting to hear back. After a few years, Poteat realized that his AI could improve that process.
This week, Poteat appeared on TechCrunch's Found podcast to discuss how using AI to automate the application process is making it easier for more people to access government benefits. She also talked about why government benefits are a great place to build her AI models because there is a large amount of documents, policies, and data that closed-loop systems can learn from.
She talks about what it's been like talking to governments about building third-party add-ons to existing infrastructure, and why governments are willing to work with outside organizations rather than building the technology itself. I shared what it looks like.
This episode also details Poteat and Advocate's company formation process, since it's not fully up and running yet. Poteat also talks about raising capital for startups and how she's had better luck with companies that want to back her moonshots than companies that focus on women and LGBTQ+ founders like herself. Told.
Poteat hopes to eventually be able to help those eligible for government benefits easily apply for them, and plans to expand into more government benefits areas soon after launch. We are planning to start expanding.
“It wasn't that the government was trying to get talent, it wasn't that we lacked infrastructure like bridges and roads, it was that we lacked the technology infrastructure between the American people and the federal government,” Poteet said. Ta. “So we set out to build it.”