Pennsylvania’s generative AI pilot program

In January 2024, Pennsylvania launched a pilot program to help explore the potential of AI while gathering valuable data from employees about their experiences. This move forward was a natural extension of a September 2023 executive order from Governor Josh Shapiro, who outlined his hopes and concerns about the future of AI in that state. This first-of-its kind GenAI pilot was created in collaboration with OpenAI and Carnegie Mellon University’s Block Center for Technology and Society.

The pilot involved 175 employees from 14 different agencies, including a wide range of workers in different disciplines. They had access to ChatGPT Enterprise (a more sophisticated version of ChatGPT, for which there is a licensing fee), for about 12 months. Within a week of the launch, the state’s Office of Administration established a new website to help guide state employees as they took this journey.

Participating employees were able to utilize this tool for a variety of tasks including writing emails and job descriptions, reducing longer documents into more succinct ones, coding and debugging, research, and streamlining hiring processes.

It was “really getting to work with our employees directly to understand the types of uses that seemed readily apparent to them as they had exposure to AI tools,” said Harrison MacRae, director of Emerging Technologies for Pennsylvania. “That’s been a really valuable learning for us throughout this project.”

The findings were very positive, and contributed to the state’s enthusiasm for the future of AI in its borders. “This was a pilot with a limited number of licenses, and the state has continued to scale access of AI tools to employees,” explained MacRae.

For example, compared to other new tools and technologies “our employees really enjoyed using these tools,” he said. Although some started skeptically about this enterprise, “about 85 percent had a positive experience using ChatGPT in their work.”

The average employee reported saving about 95 minutes per day using ChatGPT. This dramatic finding was key in giving state leaders an indication of the tool’s value.

One of the lessons learned from the pilot was the need to work with employees who begin with a wide variety of proficiency levels, and who will be using GenAI in different ways. This, in turn, led the state to partner with Innovate U.S. for ongoing training.

As Governor Shapiro was quoted in a March 21 press release: “Pennsylvania is leading the way in responsibly integrating AI into government by giving Commonwealth employees access to tools that enhance efficiency while ensuring people remain at the center of decision-making. This pilot program showed that when used thoughtfully, generative AI can help employees save time, streamline processes, and improve services for Pennsylvanians. But let me be clear—AI will never replace our workers. Instead, we’re equipping them with the best tools to do what they do best: get stuff done for Pennsylvanians.

Attribution: Case study provided to the AI Navigator courtesy of the IBM Centre for The Business of Government, Apolitical's content partner. “AI in State Government: Balancing Innovation, Efficiency, and Risk”, https://www.businessofgovernment.org/reports/ai-in-state-government, IBM Centre for The Business of Government.