Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) briefed the Data Task Force on plans to update the statewide data and AI strategy for fiscal year 2026, pilot AI-powered use cases and expand AI literacy training for state employees.

Rebecca, speaking for ETS, said the FY26 strategy update will add greater emphasis on AI now that departments are more willing to adopt AI to improve operational efficiency. "We will update it this year and working with the task force to review and update it," Rebecca said, describing pilots that include conversational AI for employee self-service, automation of paper-based workflows, and predictive analytics to improve processing times.

Rebecca said the goal of pilots is to demonstrate measurable impact and return on investment, citing examples such as reducing a processing task from days to minutes. She underscored that "humans always in the loop" and that AI agents would draft messages or surface missing information for government workers to review and approve.

On training, Rebecca said ETS and partners added AI courses to the state employee training catalog and that state employees can register for Google AI Essentials and related Coursera courses through a validated Google form. She said ETS will collect participation data from Coursera to evaluate uptake and adjust outreach.

Task force members suggested producing a downloadable PDF of the state strategy for broader dissemination. Rebecca said ETS will add that and is developing a data and AI tool-evaluation template to guide departments through initial safety and privacy checks, value assessment and return-on-investment considerations.

ETS also announced recruitment for a data and AI accessibility and equity manager to lead work on equitable and accessible deployment of AI across programs. Members encouraged that data literacy be included alongside AI literacy in employee training.

Rebecca said ETS has budget requests for master data management tools, a data sharing platform and four staff positions to support governance, privacy and data sharing; those requests remain pending.