Healey admin's AI blueprint for Massachusetts starts to take shape
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Gov. Maura Healey uses a remote control to maneuver a prototype meant to sort scallops at an AI Task Force event at Northeastern University. Photo: Steph Solis/Axios
The future of scallop farming could be an AI-powered robot wielding metal chopsticks.
- Northeastern University researchers showed Gov. Maura Healey the prototype Thursday, one of several proposals pitched to her team.
Why it matters: The Healey administration's vision for how AI can fix major problems in Massachusetts is taking shape, from AI-driven scallop sorting to less-invasive tools to detect cancer beneath the skin.
Catch up fast: The state's AI Task Force has met throughout the spring and summer to pinpoint what improvements AI can make in various industries and government work.
- The state has also paired up with Northeastern's Institute for Experiential Robotics, whose co-ops explored ways to streamline areas of Massachusetts government.
State of play: Economic Development Secretary Yvonne Hao, task force co-chair, says the state will announce the final recommendations and action items in a summit this fall.
- Those changes could be as simple as building collaborative robots — like the chopsticks machine to help address the worker shortage in the fishing industry — or far, far broader.
Healey and other state officials invited Northeastern students to pitch improvements to The Ride, the state's paratransit service for people with disabilities, along with MassDOT's policy manuals and other areas of government they studied this spring.
- One of those pitches is to streamline The Ride's process for calling a vehicle, allowing users to get help faster.
- The students had started working on a higher-tech solution but pivoted after hearing most users prefer to call The Ride directly.
- Healey says the state will implement those improvements.
What they're saying: Healey's determined to make the Boston area the nation's premiere AI hub, pushing for research and a $100-million investment in AI.
- "We don't want the great ideas that are hatched here at universities like Northeastern and other schools to be commercialized elsewhere," Healey said Thursday.
Between the lines: Healey's AI evangelism comes at a time when Texas and other lower-cost states have already lured workers and some companies from Massachusetts.
- Researchers, however, pitched AI-powered robots and tools that are programmed to work alongside humans as a potential solution for worker shortages, medical research gaps and even delays in housing construction.
Yes, but: Whether Greater Boston can become an AI hub remains to be seen.
- The region is known for its world-renowned hospitals, universities and startups, but Massachusetts faces stiff competition from California, New York and Texas when it comes to generative AI.