PHILADELPHIA — As the conversation has evolved around AI over the past several years, most IT leaders agree that embracing it is now nonnegotiable. And while the ever-advancing tech may not be replacing government IT jobs, more staff are asking how they can use AI to improve what they already do.
At the
National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) Midyear Conference on Monday, Utah’s Director of AI Christian Napier said that’s the approach government staff should take toward
AI.
“‘How can I use this kind of technology to do it better, to do it faster, to do it cheaper, and to do high-quality outcomes?’” are questions he said people should be asking.
Napier described a recent four-week pilot of Claude Code for software engineers across 11 state agencies, where within an hour of using the generative AI tool, over three-quarters of participants reported having a “magic moment” when they realized the impact it could have on their work. A third said that the speed at which they can code using the tool saved them more than 40 hours across the duration of the pilot.
But like many of his peers, Napier acknowledges that quality control is critical to getting the most mileage out of AI tools like Claude. Setting standards and building skills ensures that the output of AI projects meets end-user expectations.
Video transcript:
We did a pilot with Claude Code recently and we could see the incredible increase in velocity of development. We saw in this pilot that within an hour, 77 percent of our developers had a “magic moment.” It's like, “Wow, this is amazing.” And we saw at the end of this pilot, 30 percent of our developers over a four-week period said that using a code-assist technology helped increase their velocity by more than 30 percent, saving them more than 40 hours. So what does that allow them to do? Do things a lot faster, but at the same time, what we're understanding is we have to create some standards around that because it's also easy to use these technologies irresponsibly, build really buggy solutions that don't meet the needs of clients. Putting together standardized sets of skills and policies and procedures to help them get the most out of this technology while delivering very high-quality outcomes for our agencies is paramount.
Lauren Kinkade is the managing editor for Government Technology magazine. She has a degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and more than 15 years’ experience in book and magazine publishing.
Noelle Knell is the executive editor for e.Republic, responsible for setting the overall direction for e.Republic’s editorial platforms, including Government Technology, Governing, Industry Insider, Emergency Management and the Center for Digital Education. She has been with e.Republic since 2011, and has decades of writing, editing and leadership experience. A California native, Noelle has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history.
