When Government Technology first started working on a tracker to monitor what states and local governments are doing about AI, it quickly became clear it would be an enormous task.
As Google’s generative AI tool, Gemini, puts it, keeping pace with state and local AI efforts is akin to “watching a kaleidoscope constantly shifting its patterns,” “chasing a constantly moving target,” or “assembling a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that keep changing shape.”
Human experts echo this sentiment. Erin Mills, chief marketing officer at Quorum, a legislative tracking software platform, noted the surge in AI legislation in 2024.
“I think there’s a lot of concern, because there’s all these core issues that the states have been focused on because the federal government hasn’t been moving as fast as we may have liked,” said Mills. ”People are still trying to figure it out, we’re still in the early days and understanding what the implications are for their jobs, and what the implications are for generated content.”
To capture snapshots of these ever-changing landscapes we dug through hundreds of enacted AI legislation pieces on Quorum, our story archive and public agency websites. The goal was to uncover how states and local governments are governing or adopting AI, specifically for their own internal use or for use with government projects and initiatives.
We've created interactive maps to visualize our findings, and we'll continue to update them as the AI landscape evolves.
COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS: AI TASK FORCES AND WORK GROUPS
The most widespread trend is that agencies are creating AI task forces, councils and work groups.
Some states have legislatively mandated their creation, while others have established them through executive orders. Notably, many states have incorporated requirements for task force membership backgrounds and expertise, often specifying the focus areas. Wisconsin’s governor created a group to focus the state’s workforce and AI, while in Illinois the task force has honed in on generative AI and natural language processing. Washington state’s AI task force will have at least eight subcommittees studying different areas of focus.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS: AI GOVERNANCE AND INVENTORIES
Many states have put rules in place for how AI should be used in government, several going as far as requiring a list of all AI tools in use by each agency. For example, in Connecticut, the executive branches’ AI inventory is public record, and includes details like which AI tools each agency uses, what it decides, what vendors are involved and if it’s been assessed.
LEGISLATIVELY DRIVEN AI: MANDATED AI PROJECTS
Diving deep into the weeds of legislation with Quorum's tracking tool offers glimpses of money put aside by some states to work on AI initiatives, or even just a peek at what lawmakers hope AI will be able to do for their governments in the future.
In Massachusetts, $25 million has been earmarked for IT capital AI projects within the executive branch. In Pennsylvania, legislators passed an act to study how AI might be used to improve how the 911 and 988 systems can assist people experiencing a mental health crisis.
DEDICATED LEADERSHIP: AI OFFICIALS AND OFFICES
Whether it be through top AI positions like New Jersey’s naming of the state’s first-ever chief AI strategist, or Vermont’s creation of the Division of Artificial Intelligence within the Agency of Digital Services, many states in the Northeast have moved to create some kind of top official or governing office for AI.
