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Charter Oak AI pilot advances toward contract; finance rep says spending within $2 million reserve approved
Summary
Charter Oak ran an RFP and has selected a vendor for a targeted AI pilot; the contract is near finalization and will be routed to the state attorney general for review. The finance committee noted the board previously approved up to $2 million from reserves and recommended continued monthly oversight by the technology committee.
The technology committee reviewed a report on Charter Oak’s AI initiative and next steps after an RFP process. Michael said Charter Oak intends to partner with an external vendor to run a small number of deliberate AI projects designed to improve institutional capabilities.
"Charter Oak is making a conscious choice to engage in a partnership with an external vendor to advance AI usage within Charter Oak," Michael said. He described four ways AI is being used across the Connecticut State system: (1) contracted, third‑party general AI tools with explicit contractual protections for submitted data; (2) AI embedded in vendor products already purchased (for example, an AI feature inside Blackboard Ultra for shell development); (3) individual use by faculty, staff, or students with restrictions on protected or restricted data; and (4) Charter Oak’s bespoke partnership emerging from its RFP to build specific tools or products.
Michael said Charter Oak had completed the RFP and was close to finalizing a contract that will be submitted to the state attorney general for approval before work begins. He emphasized the Charter Oak approach is deliberate and focused on manageable pilots and best practices.
A finance committee member told the committee that the full board had already approved the project's budget in principle and that, "as long as it stays within that 2 million approval from the reserves being spent, it shouldn't need to go back for approval." The member recommended the technology committee continue monthly reporting so lessons learned from Charter Oak can inform systemwide AI use.
Committee members urged the capture and sharing of learnings from Charter Oak and asked that the contract and any material changes be brought to the committee and, if necessary, the full board depending on the contract size. No final approvals or additional budget requests were made at the meeting.
