AI Usage at a Glance
Oct 24, 2022
ProductivityPractice documented: DTA uses an AI system called Specto, built by NeuroSoph, to automatically sort and categorize paper SNAP Interim Report forms submitted by recipients to report household changes. Before this system, DTA staff sorted these forms by hand; now the AI reads each form, identifies whether it is in English or Spanish, and classifies it as Change, No Change, or Needs Review. NeuroSoph reports the system processed over 86,000 forms in the period tracked from July 2023.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Jul 17, 2024
Customer SvcPractice documented: Massachusetts deployed an AI chatbot called Ask MA on mass.gov, including DTA pages, to help residents find answers to questions about government services. The chatbot understands questions typed in more than 20 languages and responds 24 hours a day. It launched in August 2022 and, as of mid-2024, handled an average of 3.46 million visitor messages per month across the site.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Oct 31, 2025
Creative GenPractice documented: DTA integrated Synthesia, a third-party AI video platform, to produce a series of videos explaining SNAP work requirement rules to benefits recipients in multiple languages. Neither the on-screen presenter nor the narration features a real person; both are generated by Synthesia's AI avatar and voice synthesis technology.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Feb 1, 2026
OtherPractice documented: DTA uses BEACON (Benefit Eligibility and Control Online Network) to automatically calculate eligibility and benefit amounts for SNAP, cash assistance, and other programs for Massachusetts residents. After a caseworker enters client information, BEACON runs the eligibility calculation and can automatically close cases, issue notices, and prorate benefits without a human making those individual decisions. Massachusetts Legal Services has documented that BEACON's automated fault determinations can be incorrect, particularly when a DTA worker failed to offer required assistance.
Practice DocumentedView practice →Feb 17, 2026
ProductivityPractice documented: In February 2026, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to deploy ChatGPT across its entire executive branch, giving roughly 40,000 state employees — including those at DTA — access to an AI writing and research assistant for workplace tasks. The tool runs in a secure, closed environment and cannot be used to make decisions about benefits or eligibility.
Practice DocumentedView practice →DTA uses BEACON (Benefit Eligibility and Control Online Network) to automatically calculate eligibility and benefit amounts for SNAP, cash assistance, and other programs for Massachusetts residents. After a caseworker enters client information, BEACON runs the eligibility calculation and can automatically close cases, issue notices, and prorate benefits without a human making those individual decisions. Massachusetts Legal Services has documented that BEACON's automated fault determinations can be incorrect, particularly when a DTA worker failed to offer required assistance.
BEACON (Benefit Eligibility and Control Online Network) is the primary case management system for all DTA programs, currently on version BEACON 5. The system performs fully automated categorical eligibility determinations, automatically calculates benefit amounts, and auto-closes cases when clients fail to respond to verification requests within 25 days. BEACON also automatically processes "no change" Interim Reports, continuing SNAP benefits without human caseworker review; Massachusetts Legal Services has documented that before this automation, workers had to manually review those reports to keep SNAP benefits active. Massachusetts Legal Services has also documented that BEACON's automated fault determinations, which decide whether a delay was the client's or DTA's responsibility, may be incorrect, particularly when a DTA worker failed to offer assistance. A Massachusetts FY2020 capital budget allocation was approved for BEACON Modernization to reduce payment errors.
In February 2026, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to deploy ChatGPT across its entire executive branch, giving roughly 40,000 state employees — including those at DTA — access to an AI writing and research assistant for workplace tasks. The tool runs in a secure, closed environment and cannot be used to make decisions about benefits or eligibility.
DTA uses an AI system called Specto, built by NeuroSoph, to automatically sort and categorize paper SNAP Interim Report forms submitted by recipients to report household changes. Before this system, DTA staff sorted these forms by hand; now the AI reads each form, identifies whether it is in English or Spanish, and classifies it as Change, No Change, or Needs Review. NeuroSoph reports the system processed over 86,000 forms in the period tracked from July 2023.
Have evidence about Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance's AI practices? Submit a report.
Submit a report →AI Trace is free and nonprofit. Support our work
In February 2026, Massachusetts became the first state in the country to deploy ChatGPT across its entire executive branch, giving roughly 40,000 state employees — including those at DTA — access to an AI writing and research assistant for workplace tasks. The tool runs in a secure, closed environment and cannot be used to make decisions about benefits or eligibility.
Governor Healey announced the launch on February 13, 2026, and the rollout is proceeding in phases starting with EOTSS staff. DTA falls under the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) and is scheduled for onboarding in a later phase. The contract was awarded to Carahsoft Technology Corporation following a competitive procurement process; the tool operates in a walled-off environment where employee inputs are not used to train OpenAI's public models. The state's generative AI policy prohibits using the tool to make decisions about services, benefits, or eligibility, and employees are required to review and verify all outputs before using them in official work. NAGE, which represents about 15,000 state employees, said the administration was 'rushing' the introduction of AI and demanded to bargain over the rollout before it proceeded.
Massachusetts deployed an AI chatbot called Ask MA on mass.gov, including DTA pages, to help residents find answers to questions about government services. The chatbot understands questions typed in more than 20 languages and responds 24 hours a day. It launched in August 2022 and, as of mid-2024, handled an average of 3.46 million visitor messages per month across the site.
Ask MA was built by NeuroSoph using its Specto AI platform and was deployed statewide by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS). Unlike generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Ask MA is a domain-specific chatbot trained exclusively on trusted government content — it will not answer questions outside its programmed scope. DTA-specific content is included in its training, including a help video about the DTA Connect online portal. The chatbot does not access individual case information, cannot make eligibility decisions, and is not a replacement for DTA's human caseworkers.