Report: Generative AI Has Several “Significant, Beneficial” Uses for State Governments

According to a new report released by the California Government Operations Agency, Generative Artificial Intelligence has several “significant, beneficial use cases” for state governments, including helping public employees work more efficiently, improving constituent services, enhancing public safety and security, and enabling more data-driven decisions. However, Generative AI could also be inaccurate and unreliable, raising concerns over privacy and oversight.

This report on the use of GenAI in state government is the first primary product of California Governor Newsom’s Executive Order on Generative Artificial Intelligence, and it is the first step in an ongoing engagement process with stakeholders and across state agencies.

GenAI builds on advances in conventional AI and uses large quantities of data to output unique written, audio, and visual content in response to freeform text requests from its users and programmers. GenAI tools can produce entirely new content instead of simply regurgitating inputted data. Unlike conventional AI systems designed for specific tasks, GenAI models are designed to be flexible and multifunctional.

The report offers an initial analysis of the potential benefits to individuals, communities, and government and state government workers, focusing on where GenAI may be used to improve access to essential goods and services. Additionally, the report assesses the risks of GenAI, including but not limited to risks stemming from bad actors, insufficiently guarded governmental systems, unintended or emergent effects, and potential dangers toward democratic and legal processes, public health and safety, and the economy.

According to the report:

An examination of the research and feedback from academia, industry, local, state and federal government, and community organizations found the following common themes:

 

1. GenAI is unique from conventional forms of AI, and it necessitates a different state approach to implementing and evaluating this technology.

2. GenAI enables significant, beneficial use cases for state government through its unique capabilities.

3. GenAI raises novel risks compared to conventional AI across critical areas such as democratic and legal processes, biases and equity, public health and safety, and the economy, and requires measures to address insufficiently guarded governmental systems and unintended or emergent harmful effects from this technology.

Additionally, as humans have explicit and implicit biases built into our society, GenAI has the capacity to amplify these biases as it learns from input data.

Read the report for more information.

Are you interested in learning more about the responsible deployment of AI? Don’t miss the MACo Winter Conference session, “Let’s Talk AI – The Good, the Bad, the Ugly,” on December 7, 2023.

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