At the MACo Winter Conference, attendees got expert guidance on the future of rapidly developing technologies and best practices for harnessing the power of AI to modernize county government while mitigating risk and safeguarding sensitive information.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has immense potential to revolutionize county governments, offering transformative solutions to enhance services, streamline operations, enrich constituent communications, and improve decision-making. However, this transformative power also brings challenges and potential pitfalls, such as ethical issues, new and evolving cybersecurity threats, and privacy concerns.
Garrett County Commissioner Chair and MACo Board Member Paul Edwards led the conversation and moderated an informative Q&A at the “Let’s Talk AI: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” general session at the MACo Winter Conference.
Panel speakers included:
- Nishant Shah, Senior Advisor for Responsible Artificial Intelligence, State of Maryland
- Hal Daumé, Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland; Director, Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society (TRAILS)
- Ted Pibil, Senior Government Advisor, ePlus Technology
Nishant Shah started the session by outlining Maryland’s approach to AI to ensure the technology is both responsible and productive. Shah also discussed options for governance, mitigating potential risks with proper guardrails, “sandbox” approaches, and continued collaboration and resources for local governments.
Ted Pibil explained how other states are approaching AI. He also highlighted some of the benefits of AI for county governments, including more responsive constituent services, streamlined service delivery, expedited permitting, infrastructure monitoring, data-driven decision-making, and more. Pibil also outlined resources for mitigating data privacy and security concerns.
Hal Daumé explained that AI/machine learning is a prediction device, which is why human input matters. Daumé also warned of risks with proxies, particularly when it comes to law enforcement and healthcare.
The session was on December 7 at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel in Cambridge, Maryland.
More about MACo’s Winter Conference: