The State of Arizona has released its generation policy artificial intelligence (GenAI) in March, but as the technology and its state applications have evolved, so has state policy.
State and local governments have implemented a variety of AI-related policies fill out a regulatory gap at the federal level. In September, JR Sloan, Arizona CIO told government technology that AI is in the “productivity phase,” explaining that the state is focused on establishing both policy and procedure for GenAI.
This week, the state announced several updates to the statewide GenAI policy and procedure (P2000 And 2000PRrespectively), which were first published in March. The updates were officially adopted on Oct. 24, according to an email from Bryan Beach, communications and digital content manager in the Arizona Department of Administration’s (ADOA) Strategic Enterprise Technology (ASET) office.
There are three major changes in GenAI policy. The first includes updates on the role of the National Data and Analysis Office; this office was established in May to advance data work in support of GenAI. The second is the emphasis on the importance of data governance policies. The third is the addition of details on agency and employee responsibilities related to GenAI applications, including responsible use, data protection, transparency, accountability, security and privacy.
The updates aim to respond to rapid advancements in AI technology. According to Beach, these changes were made through a process in which ADOA consulted with agency CIOs. This involved sharing draft versions of the policy and procedure with proposed updates, and incorporating feedback from agency CIOs.
Last week, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs announcement establishing an AI Steering Committee to help inform the future deployment of AI and identify potential applications for its use. This committee, Beach noted, will advise on future updates to GenAI’s policies and procedures.
Policy changes support state use of GenAI in state government; several of these state requests were highlighted in the announcement.
For example, in September, ADOA conducted a four-week pilot involving 203 users and nine agencies. This initiative involved the use of Gemini for Google Workspace, which resulted in a demonstrated increase in productivity of 2.5 hours per week.
Another example began in April, in which ASET worked with three vendors to develop GenAI sandbox environments for agencies to safely experiment and learn. During this process, each vendor made training and guidance available to agencies. These tests are in progress.
The state has even used GenAI in health care; The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System has used a chatbot powered by GenAI since 2023 to help answer customer questions. In January, the agency also began using GenAI to help with cybersecurity and fraud prevention. Increased use of GenAI for fraud prevention related to billing practices is coming.
