How these states are making their own rules for AI
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We're back with the second part in our state AI series featuring a peek behind the curtain at how Michigan, Utah and Maryland are using AI and thinking about guidelines around the technology.
Why it matters: States have a unique flexibility to test, deploy and set their own rules for AI as the federal government trails behind on legislation and regulation.
- How states procure and use the technology can set examples for others and inspire similar moves.
- Last week, we looked at the ways Vermont, New Jersey, North Dakota and Pennsylvania are forging ahead on AI.
Here's what we found out this week from state officials:
Michigan: The state is working with AI company Syncurrent to connect people applying for state and federal grants to relevant opportunities, said Jonathan Smith, senior chief deputy director of Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
- Smith's department partnered with both Syncurrent and the Michigan Municipal League, a statewide association for cities and townships, to create an "MI Funding Hub" for local and tribal governments for things like infrastructure and affordable housing.
- "We reduce the time it takes local governments to find funding from a months-long process down to a few minutes," said Dhruv Patel, co-founder of Syncurrent.
- "We've helped over 100 communities identify grant opportunities," said Smith. "And this is at a time when there's way less volume of federal grant opportunities ... The fact that we're seeing usage go up, is really significant."
Maryland: Agencies are using Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Amazon Bedrock to summarize and draft documents and do research.
- The Maryland Department of Human Services offers an AI chatbot for people to ask questions in English and Spanish to help them navigate the SUN Bucks program, which helped over 600,000 students this year afford food during summer break when school meals weren't available.
- The state is also experimenting with how AI can make licensing and permitting more efficient.
- "If you want to start a business or get a tidal wetlands permit and you need to understand what the next steps would be, that's the kind of place where a chatbot would potentially be really helpful," said Maryland Senior Advisor for Responsible AI Nishant Shah.
Utah: Utah has rolled out Google Gemini to most state employees, and the state's commerce department is using AI to process professional international licenses, like in nursing, for state credentials.
- Utah's Chief Information Officer Alan Fuller said it was an "insurmountable problem" to process licenses in different languages before staffers were able to use AI to help them translate and summarize the troves of information.
- Call center agents for Utah's tax commission are grappling with the demands of a growing population and the state is exploring how chatbots could help field people's questions.
- The state is also developing a one-stop-shop online portal with an AI chatbot to route residents to easily do things like renew a license at the DMV or access social services.
