“I think a better name is ‘augmented intelligence’ because I’m bringing the technology alongside them to help them, to augment them. I want to take away the drudgery of their work.”
Working for the state follows a long and varied career for Horton, who was an avionics technician in the Marine Corps. He got degrees in agriculture and entomology but decided a turn toward IT would open up his prospects and keep his young family close to nearby relatives. His second bachelor’s degree in computer science led to private-sector roles in enterprise architecture.
The lure of public service brought him to the state, where he became CIO of the Natural and Cultural Resources Group. He now holds the same role for Health and Human Services.
He readily acknowledges that in government, the stakes are higher than just looking after a bottom line. “We don’t have that ability to roll something out and then go ‘whoops.’ … When we mess up, people don’t eat. When we mess up, money doesn’t go to people that are fostering children or providing services to behavioral health facilities.”
As just one example, the Department of Children and Family Services now has a policy bot that makes it easier for caseworkers to write their case notes after every visit. Before the bot, they would have to research and cite applicable child welfare code, a complex process that was at best difficult to navigate. More importantly, it was time spent away from the reason they became caseworkers to begin with — to serve children.
Horton wants the work of IT to be invisible to state agencies and residents — the technology and the services they deliver should just work. “Nobody should even have to think about us if we’re doing our job right,” he said. “It’s not about us.”
