Government leaders face challenges in regulating artificial intelligence and other automated systems. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Continuity gaps within Virginia’s artificial intelligence registry are raising concerns about transparency, oversight and the implementation of standards within state government, state investigators said Monday.
JLARC provided lawmakers with one update included in the registry as part of an ongoing evaluation of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), which serves 65 executive agencies, security, project management, procurement and information technology planning for the Commonwealth. The purpose of the registry is to track and approve state projects that use AI technology.
Investigators said that as of Oct. 31, VITA had approved 90 of approximately 182 cases filed by government agencies frustrated by the agency’s process guidance and registry that used multiple systems that were “not well coordinated.” VITA said the total number of approved AI cases in the registry rose to 112 at Monday’s meeting.
“One theme that emerged from all these conversations is that VITA does not have one unified voice around AI for agencies,” said Alex Jansson, chief legislative analyst for ongoing oversight of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC). “We heard that different teams within VITA could have different answers to the same question depending on when it was asked.”
Sarte added that VITA is working to establish a “centralized AI intelligence role, which will also align them with our fellow states.”
Example of AI use in Virginia. (Photo courtesy of VITA)
VITA was required to establish IT security standards under a executive order signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin on January 18, 2024.
Based on the brief, VITA created the Virginia AI Registry so that agencies could submit potential AI use cases or projects for VITA review and approval. Cases are approved based on whether there is a “positive outcome for citizens,” according to the state standards published by VITA.
The state standards also require agencies to investigate alternative technologies and processes before choosing AI, develop an analysis of the regulatory impact, and clearly indicate whether AI will make recommendations or decisions on behalf of users.
Jansson said the AI tools Smartling and CoPilot Chat have been made available to all executive branches.
Some of the approved 90 cases include the Virginia Racing Commission using meeting transcripts for hearings, the Department of Corrections improving facility monitoring and security and VITA developing a chatbot to help users navigate its website.
However, the problem researchers have identified is that case status is not updated regularly, and some agencies are unclear about which types of use cases to include and do not report them.
Researchers also don’t know whether the cases not included in the registry meet state standards.
Jansson said VITA is working to address some of the frustrations, including developing an AI resource team to reduce inconsistent guidance.
Bob Osmond, VITA’s chief information officer, did not directly address the agencies’ frustrations. However, he did say that the registry is an important part of the agency’s approach to AI oversight.
On Monday, Osmond presented a graph showing that the use of AI is accelerating. AI is currently being used to help the Department of Transportation determine when roads need to be paved, to help the Department of Quality review and approve water permits more quickly, and to help VITA create programs faster with fewer errors, improving the government’s technology tools more efficiently.
“If you look at the results, we’ve come a long way in terms of where we started, and in terms of the number of use cases that have been approved in Virginia,” Osmond said, “and we’re finding more and more use cases as agencies look at opportunities and try to learn how to take advantage of this really powerful technology.”
He added that “every job involves some form of AI. There’s just no way around it.”
In connection with this, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner, who represents Virginia, and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced bipartisan legislation, called AI-related jobs Clarity Act. The bill aims to track jobs lost to AI, as part of a broader effort to increase transparency about the use of AI in government.
Under the proposed legislation, major companies and federal agencies would be required to report AI-related layoffs to the U.S. Department of Labor, which would summarize them in a publicly available report.
“Good policy starts with good data,” Warner said in a Nov. 5 statement. “This bipartisan legislation will finally give us a clear picture of the impact of AI on the workforce – which jobs are being cut, which workers are being reskilled, and where new opportunities are emerging.
The goal is to “ensure that AI creates opportunities rather than leaving workers behind,” Warner said.
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