Tag Archives: National Association of State Chief Information Officers

How Agencies are Building Experience and Trust with AI

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State and local agencies are looking for ways to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically generative AI, into their operations. While the promise of increased efficiency is a driving force in AI adoption, there is considerable resistance to implementing this technology when it remains largely untested in government settings. Additionally, states and localities lack the personnel and infrastructure to manage and effectively use some of the more advanced AI solutions now available.

The adoption and success of AI in state and local government requires an open mind and a measured approach. Agencies are looking for low-risk, high-reward opportunities to begin testing out AI effectiveness. A recent report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers found that transcribing meetings, managing and generating documents, and generating software code were some of the top processes for which state CIOs reported currently using generative AI. Continue reading →

Understanding the State of State-Level IT

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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) annual member survey aimed to get a picture of what is currently happening in IT implementation at the state level. It focused on how states are funding their IT work and how they are implementing key technologies.

Show Me the Money

The survey found that state CIO offices have a median budget of $132 million, with high levels of federal funding resulting from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the American Rescue Plan, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. But with the level of modernization needed to meet citizen expectations of digital government, that frequently is not enough.

States are increasingly moving to a "chargeback" model where IT funding comes from the business unit where it is used. For example, the Human Resources Department would be responsible for paying for the licenses and development costs of their HR information system, rather than that being seen as an overhead expense funded out of IT. This model allows CIOs to use more of their budget for large-scale IT modernization projects that stretch over many years and impact multiple departments. Continue reading →