Veterans' Affairs trials AI-enabled search

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) is the first federal government agency to publicly trial an AI-enabled search function, with a beta version now live on its website.

The tool, which uses a large language model from OpenAI, aims to help veterans and their families navigate complex policy information by summarising plain English answers drawn from publicly available content.

The initiative is part of a tentative push by the department into AI technologies [pdf], which also includes a small-scale internal trial of Microsoft Copilot.

Speaking at the AI Innovation Showcase in Canberra, DVA assistant secretary of communications Ingrid Nagy said research showed that around 90 percent of people search for information about the department using Google and not the website’s own search function.

“That's probably a commonality for many people, but our preference was to create something that would lead people to come to our website and stay here,” she said.

“We expect this will not only be a better experience, but it will achieve some efficiencies in terms of whether people need to [use] our call centre or seek other assistance to get that information.”

The DVA’s AI lead, Andrew Powrie, added that while the system understands semantic intent and synthesises responses, it doesn’t access internal systems, store personal data, or learn from interactions.

“A toxicity and trust layer filters out abusive, offensive or unsafe language,” he said.

“The system maintains professional language standards and ensures every iteration aligns with DVA’s values and communication guidelines.”

The AI-powered search function comes as DVA launches a “small-scale” trial of Microsoft Copilot, which was revealed in the department’s recently updated AI transparency statement.

The trial comes over a year after a wider six-month Microsoft 365 Copilot pilot across the federal government, which the DVA did not initially participate in.

In its statement, DVA said its Copilot trial aligns with similar efforts by other Australian government departments.

DVA has also stood up a proof-of-concept tool that uses AI to extract specific medical details from documentation accompanying veterans’ claims for compensation or benefits.

Also revealed during the showcase was a MyClaims tool that was developed in the government's new secure Azure-hosted environment, GovAI, using a synthetic dataset.