(TNS) — At the inaugural AI Horizons summit Monday, Gov. Josh Shapiro called Pittsburgh the future of artificial intelligence development and said Pennsylvania, unlike other states that are more tech wary, is a place where “everyone’s going in the same direction.”
State employees involved in a limited pilot reported saving an average of 105 minutes per day using ChatGPT through the state’s inaugural partnership with OpenAI, he said. And there’s a potential to build much more.
“We view AI as a critically important, helpful tool when it comes to delivering government services [and] supporting our fellow Pennsylvanians,” the governor said.
Moments later, he signed an agreement between one of the largest AI architects, Nvidia, and two of the leading AI research institutions, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University , forming a partnership that could drive further advancements in medicine and robotics.
More than 400 leaders from business, academia and government converged for the sold-out summit in Bakery Square , which featured conversations on the energy needed to power AI computing and the ethical ramifications of trusting computers with more sensitive tasks.
Andrew Moore , a former Google vice president, used his opening keynote to make the case that Pittsburgh is uniquely poised to be build trust in artificial intelligence. Unlike Washington , which lacks technical skills, and Silicon Valley , which is focused on consumers, Pittsburgh is a place with a legacy of protecting industry and national security, he said.
“This is the place I trust to be sober-minded and incredibly creative when it comes to both using artificial intelligence to make the world safer and preventing harms,” he said.
Mr. Moore , who has a closer view of those harms than most, warned that AI is an “extremely dangerous technology” that can be used to suppress entire populations and “deteriorate the human condition.”
Most of the summit, however, focused on the potential benefits.
Companies and nonprofits such as financial giant BNY Mellon, health care nonprofit UPMC and advocacy group Black Tech Nation all used their booths to share positive transformations powered by the technology, while representatives from chipmaker Nvidia talked about scaling computational infrastructure responsibly.
Pennsylvania’s AI Pilot
Mr. Shapiro said his message to the state’s 80,000 employees is: “We’re not looking to replace them; we’re looking to support them.”
“AI tools can support them and help them do the work that they love,” he said.
Representatives from OpenAI weren’t at the summit, but the company told the Post-Gazette by email that the partnership with Pennsylvania demonstrates “how states can safely and responsibly adopt this technology to boost productivity.”
“We’re excited to apply what we’ve learned from this pilot to help other states use our tools to enhance the delivery of public services and better serve their communities,” said Traci Lee , OpenAI’s state and local government affairs lead.
So far, Pennsylvania is the only state partnered with OpenAI for its ChatGPT Enterprise system, which has a few additional safeguards compared to the consumer tool. Minnesota is using ChatGPT to translate government documents, a process that now takes three days instead of two weeks, according to the company.
Commonwealth employees had a steep learning curve when they first got started earlier this year, the Shapiro administration said by email. But they’ve since found success using the chatbot for brainstorming, initial drafting of documents and emails.
What started as about 50 employees in the office of administration has grown to over 100 in four additional departments: general services, health, insurance and labor and industry.
The administration stressed that employees are not using the chatbot with sensitive data or Pennsylvanians’ personally identifying information.
Government leaders who comprise a “generative AI governing board” hold monthly meetings and have worked closely with CMU’s Block Center for Technology and Society on ethical safeguards.
Musk Rumors
Mr. Shapiro was asked during a panel discussion to elaborate more on a phone call with billionaire Elon Musk during the Oct. 6 Steelers game.
Mr. Musk oversees several AI companies, including Tesla, SpaceX and xAI, which he launched to rival OpenAI.
Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris, said he differs politically from Mr. Musk, who stumped for former President Donald Trump in Butler County the day before attending the football game at Acrisure Stadium.
But the governor said he communicated that ” Pennsylvania is open for business” and agreed to stay in touch.
In a follow-up with the Post-Gazette, Mr. Shapiro declined to say how extensive any collaboration with Mr. Musk’s team might be.
“I don’t want to get too far ahead of that, and I’m certainly not going to get into the specifics of our conversation,” the governor said, “but it’s an important conversation when it comes to economic development.
“And I made very, very clear that I and my team are here to make sure that we can work with them to create jobs and economic opportunity in the commonwealth.”
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