Thiago Tonus

Category: AI & Government

  • INSPIRE: AI in the federal government, from plan to delivery

    INSPIRE: AI in the federal government, from plan to delivery

    Partners: MGI/SGD · CPQD · FINEP funding

    Period: 2026 – present

    Role: Executive Project Manager and Institutional Liaison (via Catálise Social)

    Area: AI & Government

    Context

    INSPIRE brings together seven artificial intelligence fronts in Brazil’s federal government: data interoperability, a no-code generative AI platform, the Government AI Hub (NIA), AI cybersecurity, registry data quality, personalized communication and news dissemination (DestaquesGovBr). The challenge is keeping so many deliverables and institutions moving at the same pace.

    My role

    I coordinate the project’s executive governance: agendas and minutes for the weekly Strategic Committee, tracking of more than 240 deliverables and coordination with MGI, CPQD, Serpro, Dataprev and the Chief of Staff’s Office (Casa Civil). I also led the shift to a product mindset in management, with mapping by technology readiness level (TRL), public value statements and replanning workshops.

    Results

    • Strategic decisions unblocked at the Committee
    • AI products launched for the federal government
    • Results presentation event in May 2026
    • Institutional alignment among the project partners

    Lessons learned

    In AI projects in government, the bottleneck is rarely the technology. It lies in aligning scope and concepts across institutions — and that was the strongest finding from the interviews we conducted with stakeholders.

  • LIIA and NIA: building AI capabilities in government

    LIIA and NIA: building AI capabilities in government

    Partners: Enap (LIIA) · Federal Government (NIA)

    Period: August 2024 (LIIA) · 2026 – present (NIA)

    Role: Workshop organization, facilitation and reporting

    Area: AI & Government

    Context

    LIIA is the artificial intelligence lab of Enap, Brazil’s National School of Public Administration. NIA, the Federal Government’s AI Hub, is one of the goals of INSPIRE and organizes how new AI initiatives enter government.

    My role

    I took part in the ideation of LIIA in 2024. At NIA, I worked on designing the onboarding process for AI initiatives: we defined the maturity levels (TRL) and the artifacts for each stage, identifying good practices in the current process (as is) and turning them into the future process (to be).

    Results

    • Creation and launch of LIIA
    • Identification of new AI initiatives in government through NIA

    Lessons learned

    AI is still a new and little-known topic in government, which raises many questions among civil servants. This shows how important good processes are, with well-established AI governance and ethics.