North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday announced new state programs focused on the use of artificial intelligence to improve services for residents.
Stein signed an executive order establishing the AI Leadership Council, which is intended to bring together a industry experts and state officials to ensure that the state is advancing the use of AI responsibly “and seizing every opportunity to foster innovation,” he said during a news conference on Tuesday. The council will be led by the state’s secretaries of information technology and commerce.
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“AI has the potential to transform how we work, how we live,” Stein said. “There are extraordinary possibilities with AI and also serious risks. Our state will be stronger if we are well equipped to take on these opportunities and challenges.”
Stein also announced a new AI accelerator within the state’s IT department to focus on how to use the technology to improve public services. He said he directed each state agency to create AI oversight teams with that goal in mind. “What we want always is to make government work better for people,” Stein said, “and this is a tool that can help us do that.”
Stein said the technology could help the state agencies become more efficient even as they face difficulty recruiting and retaining workers. Roughly 20% of state jobs are vacant, which has led to slow service at agencies such as the Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles.
“People have unbelievable and understandable frustration with how long it takes to get served at the DMV,” he said. “So we're going to analyze what processes at the DMV can we use AI to help get people through the system quicker, so that the lines at the DMV offices are shorter.”
A first-of-its-kind AI project launched earlier this year by the North Carolina treasurer's office found increased efficiency and streamlined workflow patterns. The project was conducted in partnership with AI software developer OpenAI. State treasurer Brad Briner said last month that his office was able to more quickly analyze financial statements and improve accuracy during the trial. The treasurer’s office estimated that employees in the divisions that participated in the program improved productivity by about 10%.
Asked Tuesday whether AI would eliminate state government jobs, Stein acknowledged that there could eventually be “employment consequences.”
“But we are nowhere near that at this point,” he said. “We just want to make sure the government works for people as efficiently as possible.”
North Carolina Chief Information Officer Teena Piccione, who leads the state Department of Information Technology and will co-chair the new AI council, said the executive order will benefit residents and businesses that operate in the state.
“It's going to make it more efficient for workers to actually do their job," she said during the news conference on Tuesday. "As we look at it, how do we take that efficiency and be able to shift them to doing something else as well that they already have they just haven't gotten to?”
The state hired its first AI policy executive this year and it has developed an AI framework — a “living document” for state agencies to guide the responsible implementation of AI technology, Piccione said.
“We are building on this foundation and working towards the goal of having the most AI-literate state government workforce in the nation,” she said, adding that the department is training leaders across state government to build awareness of and trust in AI.
“We want to drive responsible innovation by equipping all state agencies with the tools, talent and guidance to deploy AI that delivers real results for the people of North Carolina,” Piccione said.