Building Secure, Adaptable AI Modules in Drupal: Best Practices for Government Digital Platforms
Video Description
Speaker: RobbyMo
Session Focus:
This session will provide a practical roadmap for designing, developing, and sustaining AI-enabled Drupal modules that are secure, configurable, reusable, and adaptable to government mission needs.
Session Description:
Federal agencies are rapidly exploring generative AI, but turning AI interest into secure, maintainable, mission-aligned digital services remains a major challenge. Many teams struggle to move beyond pilots because AI integration can introduce uncertainty around cost, security, governance, user experience, content quality, and long-term maintainability.
This session will provide a practical roadmap for developing AI-native Drupal modules that can be adapted to real government use cases. Rather than focusing on AI as a standalone tool or building custom solutions from scratch, we will examine how Drupal can serve as a secure, extensible platform for integrating AI into existing federal digital ecosystems. A key focus will be how developers can leverage and extend the existing Drupal AI ecosystem, building on the foundation created by the Drupal community to accelerate delivery, reduce duplication, and create solutions that are easier to maintain over time.
Attendees will learn best practices for designing Drupal AI solutions that are modular, configurable, reusable, and aligned with government requirements for security, accessibility, transparency, and operational control. The session will draw on Rob’s hands-on experience creating, extending, and adapting AI-enabled Drupal tools over the past three years, including lessons learned from building solutions that connect Drupal workflows, content, search, and chatbot capabilities with emerging AI services. This experience provides a practical foundation for helping developers and government technology leaders understand what works, what creates risk, and how to avoid common pitfalls that lead to overly complex or unsustainable implementations.
Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how to approach AI-native Drupal module development, including how to define the right use case, integrate with the Drupal AI ecosystem, structure modules for adaptability, protect data and user interactions, design for configuration rather than hard-coded assumptions, and create solutions that can evolve as AI models, agency policies, and mission needs change. The session will be especially valuable for Drupal developers, technical leads, digital service teams, and government stakeholders seeking to responsibly introduce AI into existing web platforms without creating unnecessary cost, complexity, or vendor lock-in.
Themes Covered:
Leveraging Drupal’s AI module for effective AI flexibility
LLM selection and adaptability
Built in security
Testing, Validation, and continued training
Tech Stack Referenced:
Generative AI (AWS Bedrock, Large Language Models)
Drupal (CMS Integration, Open-Source Development)
Cloud-Native Solutions (AWS OpenSearch Serverless, Amazon S3 Vectors, API-Driven Workflows)
Speaker Biography: Rob Morris has been an advocate and participant for the Drupal GovCon community for the last 12 years, attending his first Drupal GovCon in 2014 and was an early implementer of Drupal for Federal Organizations. Through the emergence of AI, Rob has worked to empower the Drupal community by encouraging integration with AI to enhance the user experience within Drupal. This will be Rob’s second speakership at Drupal GovCon. Rob carries Acquia Certified Developer certifications for Drupal 7, 8, 9, 10 and was one of the first community members to achieve the Drupal 11 Certified Developer certification. Additionally, he is an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional and will provide the audience with subject matter expertise that has been gathered over a decade plus of experience working with federal clients and Drupal.
Session Focus:
This session will provide a practical roadmap for designing, developing, and sustaining AI-enabled Drupal modules that are secure, configurable, reusable, and adaptable to government mission needs.
Session Description:
Federal agencies are rapidly exploring generative AI, but turning AI interest into secure, maintainable, mission-aligned digital services remains a major challenge. Many teams struggle to move beyond pilots because AI integration can introduce uncertainty around cost, security, governance, user experience, content quality, and long-term maintainability.
This session will provide a practical roadmap for developing AI-native Drupal modules that can be adapted to real government use cases. Rather than focusing on AI as a standalone tool or building custom solutions from scratch, we will examine how Drupal can serve as a secure, extensible platform for integrating AI into existing federal digital ecosystems. A key focus will be how developers can leverage and extend the existing Drupal AI ecosystem, building on the foundation created by the Drupal community to accelerate delivery, reduce duplication, and create solutions that are easier to maintain over time.
Attendees will learn best practices for designing Drupal AI solutions that are modular, configurable, reusable, and aligned with government requirements for security, accessibility, transparency, and operational control. The session will draw on Rob’s hands-on experience creating, extending, and adapting AI-enabled Drupal tools over the past three years, including lessons learned from building solutions that connect Drupal workflows, content, search, and chatbot capabilities with emerging AI services. This experience provides a practical foundation for helping developers and government technology leaders understand what works, what creates risk, and how to avoid common pitfalls that lead to overly complex or unsustainable implementations.
Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how to approach AI-native Drupal module development, including how to define the right use case, integrate with the Drupal AI ecosystem, structure modules for adaptability, protect data and user interactions, design for configuration rather than hard-coded assumptions, and create solutions that can evolve as AI models, agency policies, and mission needs change. The session will be especially valuable for Drupal developers, technical leads, digital service teams, and government stakeholders seeking to responsibly introduce AI into existing web platforms without creating unnecessary cost, complexity, or vendor lock-in.
Themes Covered:
Leveraging Drupal’s AI module for effective AI flexibility
LLM selection and adaptability
Built in security
Testing, Validation, and continued training
Tech Stack Referenced:
Generative AI (AWS Bedrock, Large Language Models)
Drupal (CMS Integration, Open-Source Development)
Cloud-Native Solutions (AWS OpenSearch Serverless, Amazon S3 Vectors, API-Driven Workflows)
Speaker Biography: Rob Morris has been an advocate and participant for the Drupal GovCon community for the last 12 years, attending his first Drupal GovCon in 2014 and was an early implementer of Drupal for Federal Organizations. Through the emergence of AI, Rob has worked to empower the Drupal community by encouraging integration with AI to enhance the user experience within Drupal. This will be Rob’s second speakership at Drupal GovCon. Rob carries Acquia Certified Developer certifications for Drupal 7, 8, 9, 10 and was one of the first community members to achieve the Drupal 11 Certified Developer certification. Additionally, he is an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional and will provide the audience with subject matter expertise that has been gathered over a decade plus of experience working with federal clients and Drupal.