State policymakers are working on a technological revolution as artificial intelligence has proven to be a gamechanger for streamlining government operations, optimizing workflows and improving service delivery, according to sources in Minnesota.
“We're accusing the company of the Minnesota Legislature Coordination Committee,” said Chris Canty, information systems manager for the Minnesota Legislature Coordination Committee.
However, policymakers need to remember that successful AI results require a responsible approach to get there, Canty spoke during a session at the state legislature's national conference last week in Boston, saying that a responsible approach is needed to get there.
For example, the Minnesota Enterprise Translation Office was tasked with developing language translation services to Kantei's team, allowing legislative material to be accessible to state non-English speakers.
Last year, ETO launched a pilot program that utilizes the translation service ChatGPT. Canty said it will help improve the speed and accuracy of machine-translation materials.
AI helps to translate content and documents into plain language, maintaining specific grammatical and semantic nuances throughout the translation. For example, the AI model is trained to recognize the term in the government context. Chamber A canty refers to the legislative home or physical space where the body meets.
Such AI tools have also significantly reduced application development times for Cantey's team, he said. “It may have taken four months to develop an application. It would take four weeks now. A script that could take four weeks takes four days,” he explained.
While AI has transformed the translation process for Minnesota officials, human translators and interpreters continue to be key parts of the process to ensure quality control and assurance of translation, Cantey said.
Ultimately, he said technicians need to “treat AI as power tools and use safety goggles.”
In fact, a careful approach to AI could help policymakers better understand “the substantial risks with AI that we need to recognize.” “I don't think fear should allow us to stop from great opportunities, but we need to take a light, careful and thoughtful look at what we do. [with AI]. ”
For example, he explained that we need to consider how to track and record prompts used by AI tools, how to manage ownership of AI output, or how to protect the data and privacy of the content used by AI services.
Dahl pointed to the state's efforts to create legislative-wide acceptable usage policies for generation AI. This points to consider appropriate use cases for the generated AI to be implemented, such as meeting summary and writing support.
“The approach is education, not banning,” he said.
Such education is essential, said Wil Clark, a program principal at NCSL. Statewide, as AI adoption shows few indications of a halt.
According to an NCSL survey conducted by the organization, 20% of legislative staff said they used generated AI for their work in 2024. This year's survey, which has not yet been published, shows that the figure has grown to 44%, Clark said.
However, the number of respondents who say their Legislative Bureau has a policy on AI use remained the same from 2024 to 2025, he said.
“If you don't have a policy, you should really start thinking about it,” Clark said.
For example, for legislators who report having an AI policy, Clark said policy priorities include banning AI use by legislative staff, allowing free AI use to certain AI tools, or allowing limited use.
Lawmakers also have policies that require staff to obtain consent from managers when using AI, or are reporting that they will limit information and data staff that can be used in AI services, he added.
Whether or not you like it, Artificial Intelligence is finding a place for government, and it's unlikely to leave, especially as agencies think AI is a multiplier of the power of small, unresurrected teams, Dahl said in an interview with. 50 routes.
“For us, [AI] He said that establishing security and safety policies and procedures for the adoption and use of AI in the government is a key reason for Congress. [being] A shiny tool for our program partners. ”
