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A little over 18 months after signing the executive order, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced the findings of a pilot program that made Pennsylvania the first state in the nation to partner with OpenAI.
“Gen AI is one of the most significant technological developments of our time. It will likely lead to a new era, just as the agricultural revolution and industrial revolution did in this country over the last century or so,” Shapiro said in Pittsburgh on Friday.
Shapiro said 175 Commonwealth employees from 14 different agencies used OpenAI’s ChatGPT during the pilot program. He said t even though 48% of them never used ChatGPT before, 85% of them reported they had a positive experience utilizing i tfor their jobs.
“We heard the same feedback from workers from across all different ages, all different backgrounds and all different types of roles of Commonwealth service,” Shapiro said. “From our lawyers who had chat GPT in their hands to our construction project managers who were using these open AI tools.”
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He added the employees who took part saved 95 minutes per day with the help of AI.
“That’s nearly eight hours a week that they got back, 30 hours a month that they got back,” Shapiro said.
Another example the governor mentioned was the AI program helped the state simplify job descriptions and speed up hiring times, reducing the amount of time to onboard an employee from 90 days to 60 days.
Joined by elected leaders, unions, tech employees, and academia, Shapiro announced “Phase Two” will expand the use of AI for commonwealth employees on June 1, which is one day after the initial effort ends.
“We will involve more employees and give them more generative AI tools to get more stuff done for the good people of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “I’m excited about the opportunities that generative AI has in our efforts to serve the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It’s shown that it is a big difference maker in our work.”
Shapiro emphasized AI is “not a replacement for the employees experience and expertise.”
“We confirmed this tool is a job enhancer, not a job replacer. We believe that is critically important to remember as we go forward,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro also took a not-so-subtle jab at the federal government, claiming that “some there want to berate and belittle public servants.”
“That’s not okay,” he said. “I want you know here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we respect public service and we respect those who have made a decision in their lives to serve others, to help their fellow Pennsylvanians, and rather than eliminating their jobs haphazardly, we are methodically working with them to help them be more effective and efficient stewards of taxpayer money and to more quickly meet the needs of our fellow Pennsylvanians.”