The myAlaska portal serves as a single entry point for state government services, from applying for Permanent Fund dividends, to driver's licensing, to unemployment insurance benefits and beyond.
In a public notice issued Nov. 25, the state's Department of Administration said it is "considering implementing Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) modules within the myAlaska application" and solicited "industry input on cost, timeline, and implementation considerations."
The request for information published last month stops short of a full plan to implement the changes. Instead, the request is intended to get industry input on the feasibility of adding the new features to myAlaska, according to the notice. The deadline for responses was Monday.
The Alaska Department of Administration did not respond to questions about the project.
Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence tools that can autonomously carry out complex tasks with limited human involvement. The technology is increasingly making its way into government functions, from food safety inspections to scientific research.
The state's proposal applies to only the public myAlaska mobile app, according to the notice.
The new features being considered for myAlaska include "autonomous completion of multi-step government service transactions on behalf of users," as well as "dynamic form filling, document retrieval and eligibility checks" as well as the ability to send users personalized notifications, according to the state's request for information.
Earlier this year, the state launched a myAlaska app that includes access to about 50 services and included a new chatbot, state Chief Information Officer Bill Smith said. In the future, Smith said, the app is expected to include more than 200 services, including everything from benefits to hunting and fishing regulations.
At the time, Smith said an app could become one of the main ways Alaskans interact with state government.
If Alaska moves forward with the changes, it would put the state at the forefront of a shift to using artificial intelligence for state government functions, Anthony Kimery, a security expert and former editor of Homeland Security Today magazine, wrote in a story posted last week on the industry news site BiometricUpdate.
"The upgrades could position myAlaska as one of the most advanced state-run digital service platforms in the country, capable not only of housing government functions but autonomously carrying them out," Kimery wrote.
In an interview Wednesday, Kimery said Alaska isn't alone among state governments adopting agentic AI technologies, but the scope of the information request suggests officials here may be planning to go beyond what most other states are doing right now.
The state would need to do extensive testing for safety and security, especially if using sensitive biometric data, he said.
In its request for information, the state says potential respondents would need to provide testing for misuse, AI "hallucination" and other problems and explain how they would respond to data breaches. Any responding companies would also have to "provide mechanisms for human oversight, override and correction," the request said.
State governments are grappling with the emerging AI technologies and their benefits and drawbacks in real time, Kimery said.
"That's the question: Is it safe or not?" he said. "This is uncharted territory."
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