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The AI 50: Honoring Public Sector AI Innovators
The AI 50, a new recognition program from the Center for Public Sector AI, highlights individuals and organizations making significant contributions to AI adoption and advancement in public sector agencies. Public and private sector participants focused on public service are eligible to submit.
The 2025 AI 50
It was just a few years ago that artificial intelligence hit the mainstream. Since then, government has bet big on AI, from automating workflows and building chatbots to standing up AI working groups and appointing AI officials.
To acknowledge that tidal wave of innovation, the Center for Public Sector AI is honoring both individuals and organizations — from state and local agencies as well as the private sector — with the inaugural AI 50 Awards. Winners were selected from a talented pool of nominees offered up by their colleagues and partners. Please join us in congratulating the AI 50.
Individuals
Amina Al Sherif
Generative AI Lead, Google Public Sector
Al Sherif is a leading voice in bringing responsible, ethical and secure AI solutions to government, including Google Agentspace, a generative AI platform that looks across public-sector organizations to glean insights that empower state and local leaders.
Brendan Babb
Chief Innovation Officer, Anchorage, Alaska
Babb brings experimentation and curiosity to city service, including working with custom GPTs to answer questions about municipal code in plain language. Multimodal projects include identifying a 311 description, as well as time and place, from a photo.
Mike Brooks
Senior Systems Administrator, Acworth, Ga.
Brooks is a champion of using AI to drive operational efficiencies for the small Georgia city of Acworth, like implementing a document summarization tool that saves over 100 hours a year, lightening the workload for staff and furthering transparency efforts.
Rebecca Cai
Chief Data Officer, Hawaii
Cai is focused on creating AI programs built on a framework of good governance. She is also driven by impact with AI use, tackling real challenges like homelessness and disaster readiness, as well as addressing state staffing shortages.
Giovanni Capriglione
State Representative, Texas
A vocal advocate for using AI in the Lone Star State, Capriglione leads the House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology and filed the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act, stressing that tech “must innovate, not stagnate.”
Eyal Darmon
Americas Public Service Data & AI Lead, Accenture
Darmon has worked with state, local and federal agencies to launch generative AI initiatives across many disciplines. He helped establish AI centers of excellence at the state level in Massachusetts and for agencies like the New York City Fire Department.
Nikhil Deshpande
Chief Digital & AI Officer, Georgia
With over 20 years of experience with Georgia IT, Deshpande now leads the state’s AI Advisory Council, comprising members from government, academia and industry. He brings a forward-looking perspective on how technology can best enhance services for Georgians.
Leila Doty
Privacy & AI Analyst, San Jose, Calif.
In her work in San Jose, a leader in municipal AI, Doty created the city’s AI framework and manages the GovAI Coalition, which brings together over 600 members from more than 250 government agencies nationwide to promote responsible use of AI in the public sector.
Timothy Galluzi
Chief Information Officer, Nevada
Galluzi has been at the forefront of state government AI, spearheading early policy work, convening multi-disciplinary thought leadership groups, and launching practical use cases like harnessing AI to dramatically cut unemployment claims processing times.
Santiago Garces
Chief Information Officer, Boston
With Garces at the helm, Boston quickly issued interim guidance for generative AI use when the tech first went mainstream three years ago. Since then, Garces has tapped into the tech to better serve citizens, using it to digitize legislative archives and street signs.
Micah Gaudet
Deputy City Manager, Maricopa, Ariz.
A leading voice in local AI use, Gaudet has made Maricopa a proving ground, where he showed off a ChatGPT-generated incident and traffic plan in minutes instead of the hours of staff time it would normally take. His GenAI course is now in use in more than 60 cities.
Sarah Gregosky
Chief Operating Officer, North Carolina Medicaid, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Gregosky led the creation of one of the first AI centers of excellence for a state Medicaid agency, a multistakeholder initiative that incorporates diverse perspectives to ensure a responsible approach to innovation that improves how the agency operates.
Nadia Hansen
Global AI Go-to-Market Leader and Industry Advisor for Public Sector, Salesforce
With a local gov tech background, having served as CIO of Clark County, Nev., Hansen brings public-sector experience to her work helping governments use AI and data to drive digital transformation.
Troy Horton
Health & Human Services Group CIO, Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology
In addition to leading the development of Illinois’ AI policy, Horton helped launch an AI policy bot for the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, a tool that has increased efficiency for staff navigating this complex and critical system.
Rob Lloyd
Chief Technology Officer & IT Director, Seattle
A pioneer in AI for local government, Lloyd drove early adoption of AI in San Jose, Calif., and continues that work in Seattle, where, among other projects, he helped create a model for AI adoption that incorporates pilot projects, privacy review, and shared knowledge among cities and the private sector.
Melanie McDonough
Chief Innovation & AI Officer, Lebanon, N.H.
McDonough exemplifies what small cities can do with AI. Standout projects include “Anna,” an AI video news reporter for public engagement, and a no-code, interactive AI version of the city’s strategic plan that came together quickly and at a lower cost than vendors were offering.
Razwan Mirza
Chief Information Officer, New York City Department of Probation
To drive intelligence-led public safety, Mirza embedded AI into many aspects of his agency, modernizing probation operations and improving officer safety and effectiveness. Tools like GIS mapping and trend analysis have allowed officers to better target areas that need early intervention.
Christian Napier
AI Director, Utah Division of Technology Services
Napier oversees AI solutions for Utah government, like creating an AI road map, training staff on responsible AI use, getting tools in employees’ hands so they can more effectively serve residents, and developing a sandbox to help agencies identify and pilot AI solutions.
Beth Simone Noveck
Chief AI Strategist, New Jersey
With a special focus on training state employees to responsibly and effectively use AI, Noveck was the first AI chief appointed in New Jersey, itself a leader in public-sector AI policy and use. Noveck also furthers this work as director of the GovLab.
Ben Palacio
Senior AI Analyst, Placer County, Calif.
Palacio is a thought leader in AI use for local government, from chatbots and large language models to how vendors should work with agencies to implement ethical, productive AI solutions. In Placer County, Palacio was an early adopter and champion of integrated chatbot use.
Josiah Raiche
Chief Data & AI Officer, Vermont
Raiche worked on some of Vermont’s first in-house AI projects in the state transportation department. In his current role, he has overseen the shift from machine learning to GenAI, focused on classifying data to determine what can and should be accessible by AI, with privacy and security in mind.
Katy Ruckle
Chief Privacy Officer, Washington
Ruckle is at the forefront of Washington’s AI work, shepherding the executive order that established state policy for AI use and forming the Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice, which includes participants from state and local agencies as well as academia to build a library of practical AI resources.
Anh Selissen
Chief Information Officer, Texas Department of Transportation
An innovative AI leader, Selissen has used automation throughout her agency to improve business processes as well as traffic safety. Key projects include a crash identification solution on major roads in Austin, and an invoice processing tool that has saved thousands of human hours.
Vidhu Shekhar
Director of Public Sector Artificial Intelligence Strategy, Microsoft
Shekhar is a noted voice in the world of public-sector AI, advocating for using automation to improve state and local government services. He also sits on a number of academic advisory boards and volunteers on the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Generative AI Public Working Group.
Nichole Sterling
Mayor Pro Tem, Nederland, Colo.
Sterling is the co-founder of Women Defining AI, a group for women and nonbinary people to learn about and experiment with AI solutions, and My Town AI, which generates low-cost digital twins to help cities make data-driven decisions.
Organizations
Automotus
Automotus’ curb management solution automates curbside data collection to streamline parking, payments and enforcement, making city streets safer for both pedestrians and drivers of all vehicles, from passenger cars and delivery trucks to e-bikes and scooters.
California Department of Technology
The state’s IT agency has spear-headed the way California procures AI and GenAI solutions, ensuring comprehensive risk assessments and training. Led by CIO Liana Bailey-Crimmins and Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Porat, CDT took early steps to establish a sandbox environment to test real-world use cases like language translation and building inspections.
California Department of Transportation
In partnership with Accenture and other state agencies, Caltrans launched a GenAI solution to glean traffic mobility insights in order to improve road safety, reduce freight network congestion and promote data-driven decision-making overall.
Cisco
Cisco supports state and local government innovation by embedding AI in its products for cybersecurity, networking and virtual collaboration, as well as providing IT infrastructure like data centers and hybrid cloud solutions that stand up to AI’s needs.
CivCheck
With an emphasis on ethical innovation, CivCheck’s platform speeds up the municipal construction permitting process with an AI-assisted application for permit-seekers and an AI assistant for city plan checkers. The company reports that clients’ plans are now reviewed 10 times faster.
Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Palm Beach County, Fla.
Palm Beach County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court uses AI to process court records, review applications for indigency and auto-index documents into its records system. In the comptroller’s office, AI streamlines how financial documents are processed. Both teams are actively researching other potential use cases.
Darwin AI
Darwin AI offers AI security and compliance services to state and local governments, allowing agencies to experiment with the technology while staying within the bounds of the policies set by their jurisdiction.
Dataminr
First Alert from Dataminr provides agencies with real-time data during emergency events. In 2024, the company launched ReGenAI, which continuously updates event briefs as disasters happen, helping better protect communities during incidents like tornadoes, hurricanes and fires.
City & County of Denver
Launched in March 2024, Denver’s chatbot, Sunny, has streamlined resident communications, reduced 311 hold times and made government services available in 72 languages, all in compliance with the state’s comprehensive digital accessibility legislation.
GovAI Coalition
Founded by San Jose, Calif., in March of 2024, the GovAI Coalition is an active group of state, local and federal members with the shared goal of using AI safely and responsibly in government.
GovLab
The GovLab is a research center that has supported ways public agencies can incorporate AI into their practices through projects like its AI ethics course.
Laserfiche
To help make sense of long and dense government documents, Laserfiche’s AI-driven tools help summarize text, extract essential information and eliminate manual data entry on a secure, user-friendly platform.
Long Beach, Calif.
Long Beach uses AI to drive progress for its operations, staff and greater community. A dedicated AI governance and program manager oversees the city’s AI policy, and a publicly available AI use case registry records the real-world ways it’s using new tech.
Miami-Dade County, Fla.
Miami-Dade convened cross-departmental workgroups to design and implement a unified AI strategy led by County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and the Information Technology Department (ITD). This years-long collaborative effort has established a robust road map for using AI to ensure resident privacy, government security, and ethical decision-making.
Minnesota IT Services
A leader in state government AI, Minnesota IT Services has imbued the tech into agencies with tools like translation services, digital assistants and document summarization. The Transparent Artificial Intelligence Governance Alliance launched in 2023 helps the state adopt AI quickly and responsibly.
Monmouth County, N.J., Surrogate Court
Monmouth County’s Surrogate Court uses AI to transform probate and estate services that previously relied heavily on paper processes. Standout tools include a multilingual voice line that handles after-hours calls and AI onboarding for new staff to accelerate training.
Polimorphic
Polimorphic’s customer relationship management platform automates municipal processes, and an AI chatbot with natural language search lets residents access government data in a conversational style.
San Mateo County, Calif.
With a focus on cross-agency collaboration, San Mateo County is using AI to improve emergency response, health services and resident engagement. A new AI chat and search system aims to make it easier for residents to find the information they need from the county.
Seguin, Texas
Seguin’s AI work focuses on streamlining processes and improving accessibility, as well as strengthening city systems, with AI providing 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring of citywide networks and communications traffic.
South Dakota Bureau of Information and Technology
South Dakota’s IT team has a foundational AI strategy focused on service delivery, ethical uses and rural equity. The state’s GenAI chatbot analyzes information from state websites and documents and produces accurate, specific responses.
Syncurrent
Syncurrent offers AI-driven software that searches databases to find funding that governments, particularly tribal nations, can apply for. Through a partnership with the Department of the Interior, the platform is free to tribal nations for the next 10 years.
Texas Department of Public Safety
The Texas Department of Public Safety uses a low-code AI platform to modernize and streamline its procurement process, getting information quickly and easily to employees and reducing the time it takes to onboard new vendors.
Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments
Operating across five counties in eastern North Carolina, UCPCOG allows members access to AI tools they may not otherwise have the resources for, like a secure ChatGPT, a regional chatbot, a virtual caregiver for aging adults and digital twins for policymaking decisions.
Voyatek
Voyatek provides fraud detection and prevention tools for higher education, tax and revenue agencies, and health and human services agencies, making staff more efficient and programs more effective.
Washington, D.C.
The nation’s capital has created chatbots like DC Compass, which helps residents more easily navigate the city’s open data, and CORA, which provides child welfare staff immediate responses about policy and procedures.
