New task force to create road map for AI usage in Rhode Island

The first meeting of the Governor’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force takes place at the Rhode island Department of Administration on Monday, July 15, 2024. The task force is comprised of public and private sector leaders interested in helping the state maximize new tech opportunities. (Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)

It’s been roughly two years since AI (artificial intelligence) became an inescapable topic of everyday conversation — much of it focused on the spectacular creative powers of generative AI, from making absurd images to college students’ essays.

But the rapidly emerging set of technologies offers much more than novelty: In fact, Gov. Dan McKee thinks AI could be an ally in his maneuver to raise Rhode Islanders’ personal income by 2030. That’s just one goal of the eventual report that will be produced by the Rhode Island Governor’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, which met for the first time Monday at the Department of Administration building in Providence.

Chris Parisi, president of Trailblaze Marketing and vice chair of the task force, invoked Spider-Man in his opening remarks, and noted that AI opens up a space of potential but also responsibility. 

“I’m not here to say AI will not take your jobs,” Parisi said. “But we are also creating new jobs.”

McKee established the task force with an executive order Feb. 29, and it now includes two dozen members from both the public and private sectors, most of whom convened Monday afternoon for a light introduction and discussion of the group’s aims. Several members weren’t present, including Sen. Lou DiPalma of Middletown — he was traveling out of state — and Angélica Infante-Green, the state’s K-12 education commissioner. The task force is chaired by Jim Langevin, the former congressman. 

The diversity of stakeholders reflects what Parisi cited as one goal of the assembly: to make sure state applications of AI are “ethical and unbiased.”

The other predominant concern was how to best leverage AI as a tool within government and business. Langevin announced the task force’s fact finding teams will work on topics like finance, government, education and small business over the next year, before producing a report and road map for AI usage in Rhode Island. It’s this data that McKee hopes will inform his strategy for higher incomes by 2030.

“This report is gonna be incorporated into this plan,” McKee said.

The state’s executive branch is also soliciting a consulting strategic advisor to help advise the task force. A solicitation was uploaded to the state’s bidding site on June 24 and will remain open until July 25.

The multinational consulting firm McKinsey reported in 2022 that AI use had “plateaued” amongst businesses. But in its 2024 report on AI, released May 30, the firm found this inertia has ended. A survey administered by the firm found that 72% of responding businesses were now using AI in at least one capacity. The use of generative AI — at its core the same technology used for recreational or artistic purposes — also ballooned, jumping from 33% to 65% usage since the last McKinsey survey.

In Rhode Island, the situation’s no different: “Lots of businesses will do great things with AI and lots of businesses are very nervous about AI,” said task force member Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner. 

The widespread professional adoption of AI has made its regulation likewise unignorable for governments, who also stand to benefit from the enrichment of data and simplification of work it provides. Nationally, an AI “bill of rights” has been blueprinted, and task forces have been popping up across states like Alabama, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Washington.

Statehouses nationwide have also introduced laws to regulate AI, which are now so plentiful the Electronic Privacy Information Center has introduced a scorecard for AI legislation. In Rhode Island, DiPalma and Rep. Jacquelyn Baginski both introduced AI-related legislation during the 2024 session, and both sit on the AI task force as ex officio members. 

Baginski, a Cranston Democrat, introduced a bill to support civil litigation against the practice of “algorithmic discrimination” — in other words, instances of AI-driven decision-making that exhibit the bias the task force wants to avoid. Baginski’s bill also stipulated restrictions on not just “deployers” of automated decision-making but developers of such tools. The bill was sentenced to “further study” by the House Committee on Innovation, Internet, & Technology and went no further.  

Baginski and DiPalma also introduced companion bills that would prevent the use of AI-generated content in election communications within 90 days of an election. Baginski’s version passed the House but died in the Senate.

The insurance industry was an early adopter of AI, with industry standards and guidelines for its use issued as early as 2020. The state’s Department of Business Regulation has already issued guidance for insurers: a nine-page document that was published in March, as pointed out by the department’s director and task force member Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer.

Task force member Edmund Shallcross III, the CEO of Amica, said the Lincoln-based insurance company has “been using data and machine learning for years…We’ll be using artificial intelligence in probably every part of our business in the next one, three, five years.”

On the government side, task force member Marc Pappas, director of the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency, was generally positive about AI. “It makes us better at recovery from disasters,” he said, noting its skills in mapping, imaging analysis for damage assessment, and help in allocating resources when disasters strike.  

Christopher Horvath of Citizens Bank appeared more cautious overall than some of his fellow task force members, expressing concern about “bad actors,” who can exploit AI. Security considerations were echoed by task force member Brian Tardiff, the state’s chief digital officer and chief information officer, who noted that AI can improve the efficiency of government but only if the proper frameworks are put in place.  

“We can’t have effective and efficient deployments without that data security,” Tardiff said. 

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