Oklahoma Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence
While United States lawmakers continue to mull over potential federal legislation on AI, governors are leading the way at the state level. Oklahoma Governor J. Kevin Stitt issued Executive Order 2023-24 on Tuesday, Sept. 25, joining the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania when it comes to executive orders directed at AI and Generative AI. Just like other government officials in the United States, Governor Stitt said that AI needs to be embraced, analyzed, properly harnessed, and deployed. However, just like other orders and laws we’ve seen this year, the state of Oklahoma will approach things slightly different.
In the Order, Governor Stitt orders the creation of the Governor’s Task Force on Emerging Technologies. The Task Force shall study, evaluate and develop policies and recommendations related to the responsible deployment of AI and generative AI. That means the Task Force will need to develop a set of principles and values with AI’s use in the state government. On top of that, the Task Force will develop and implement a governance framework focusing on data management, model development, model monitoring and human oversight. The Task Force will also determine how to educate and train workers in the fields of AI while improving government services and government efficiencies.
Under the Order, Joe McIntosh, the Chair of the Task Force, is allowed to create committees to facilitate work of the Task Force and appoint experts to serve on potential committees. The Order does lay out two mandatory committees, a committee that focuses on AI’s impact within education and a committee that focuses on AI’s impact within commerce and workforce development. The Order calls for directors of all state agencies to put one person on their team in charge of becoming an expert in the field of AI and Generative AI. The Governor adds in his Order that executive branch operations and IT leaders within the state’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services are already responsibly utilizing AI to help the Governor’s office achieve business solutions, but doesn’t state how.
The Task Force will be composed of 11 members, including McIntosh, the state’s Lieutenant Governor, the state’s Secretary of Operations and Government Efficiency, the leaders of the state Senate and House, the state’s Interim Executive Director of Commerce, the state’s Executive Director of the Center for the Advancement of Science & Technology, the Chancellor of the State System of Higher Education, and three at-large members appointed by Governor Stitt. The Task Force will have to present a full written recommendation to Governor Stitt, and the leaders of the state Senate and House on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023. This could impact how the Oklahoma Legislature operates next year, as the Legislature is set to convene on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024.
If you have questions about how all these different U.S. state laws and orders could affect your company, reach out to BABL AI and one of their Audit Experts can help.
