“Nobody has really been revealing how they’re utilizing AI right now,” Greene said of the state’s departments. “It’s still kind of a mystery.”
A pilot program would begin to address that, Greene said, studying generative AI use to make government more effective and ensure oversight.
“There are clear benefits to generative AI, like improved efficiency, but we have to take precautions,” Greene said. “We need to evaluate this technology closely before it is implemented broadly across state government.”
The bill was voted unanimously out of the House Communications and Technology Committee on Tuesday, May 19. It’s been referred to the House Rules committee.
The legislation comes as Michigan and other states begin to dive into AI regulation, and as the data centers that help them run continue to dominate the public conversation during a high-profile election year.
All 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C. introduced legislation on the topic of AI in 2025, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
That includes several states setting funds aside for studies on the impact of AI on government, employment and healthcare.
A September 2024 survey by Ernst & Young LLP, referenced by the National Conference of State Legislatures, found that 51% of federal, state and local government employees used an AI application daily or several times a week.
As a result, there are “numerous” pilot programs of AI by state governments across the country, according to Kevin Frazier, a senior fellow at the technology nonprofit Abundance Institute who spoke during May 12 testimony.
He said that includes in states like New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
In California, Frazier said state employees have used a pilot program to create a “digital AI assistant,” which a member of the state’s water resources control board estimated had saved employees “hundreds of hours.”
Other pilot program examples have cut down the time necessary to review permits or helped to increase civic engagement, he said.
In Michigan, state technology department officials have previously spoken about how employees can use AI systems to do things like generate reports, but only if all the information used is already in the public domain. The emphasized a priority to protect state data.
But Greene said the full extent of use across state departments has been less clear.
The state’s technology department did not weigh in on the bill, and a spokesperson did not return an MLive request for comment on permitted uses as of the time of publishing.
Greene’s House Bill 5899 would first create a three-member AI governing board within the state’s Department of Technology, Management and Budget.
The members – one individual with expertise in AI or data science, one with ethics, civil rights or privacy background and one who represents the private sector – would be appointed by the governor. Greene said it’s necessary to have members outside the state department with expertise in AI and the law to weigh in on best practices.
Those members would then help inform the creation of a pilot program by the state’s technology department, allowing the use of generative AI by state employees, agencies and departments by Jan. 1, 2027.
Greene said the program would allow state officials to experiment with AI in a “controlled setting,” testing new tools and determining its efficiency.
It would require the department to test AI and collect feedback while ensuring “compliance with state and federal data protection and cybersecurity standards.” DTMB could approve specific AI programs for use.
The bill specifies that participants could not use generative AI on restricted or confidential information.
If Greene’s bill passes, the pilot program would end with reports to the legislature on the following:
- The amount of time participants saved in their work by using AI
- Any processes that were made more efficient with AI
- Any risks or consequences from the use of AI
Greene said the pilot program wouldn’t yet put “full guardrails” over AI usage for state government, but would nudge the state in the right direction.
The program would cost an estimated $600,000 to set up, with an additional $2.1 million annually to cover staffing, software and technology subscriptions, licensing, training and expenses for the governing board, according to House Fiscal Agency analysis.
If the pilot program was extended or expanded, the cost could increase.
When asked by Rep. Rylee Linting, R-Wyandotte, Frazier was not able to provide details on the cost of pilot program implementation in other states.
For the 2024-25 fiscal year, $10 million was appropriated by Michigan’s state lawmakers to an information technology fund to develop AI platforms and tools over the course of four years.
The work project fund was later among those cancelled by a Republican-controlled House committee in December 2025, prompting a lawsuit.
According to House fiscal analysis, those work project funds could be used to support the pilot program if spending is permitted in a court ruling. If not, more funds would need to be set aside.
“I’m not asking for an appropriation at all in this,” Greene said. “This is asking DTMB to essentially do their job and study AI and its efficiency and efficacy, really, in state government.”
Greene’s bill isn’t the first time the state has sought to address AI use.
Bills signed into law in 2023 regulate the use of AI-generated material in political campaign advertisements, requiring that AI campaign ads include disclosure notices.
The state has also passed legislation banning the use of AI to create deepfake pornography depicting real people without their consent.
At the same time, more and more Michigan communities have pushed back against a growing number of proposals to build data centers – warehouses full of servers for cloud computing and AI.
As of April, more than 1,500 square miles of the Great Lakes State are temporarily off-limits to data centers due to moratoriums pausing consideration or construction in 51 cities or townships.
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