State leaders are looking at PDL as a more efficient and effective way of assessing and greenlighting tech projects undertaken by state agencies and departments than the current Project Approval Lifecycle and incorporating expanded use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) going forward. The Legislative Analyst’s Office issued a report Tuesday, “Preliminary Assessment of Significant Changes to State’s Technology Project Approval and Oversight Processes,” in which it weighs how the state should proceed with the new system.
“State entities request hundreds of millions of dollars through the annual budget process to plan, develop, and implement technology projects,” the LAO report notes. “As such, a new approval process that is expected to launch for all GenAI projects in just a few months warrants close legislative scrutiny.”
Because the new PDL process is still in its infancy, LAO is urging caution in rolling it out statewide, especially given the bugs that still crop up in GenAI-produced work.
“Some possible challenges for state entities in using this technology include the delivery of false and/or misleading information to state residents; increased cybersecurity and privacy risks; and opaque decision-making by the AI system,” LAO says.
Key state agencies with a tech focus — the California Department of Technology (CDT), the Department of General Services, the Government Operations Agency (GovOps) and the Office of Data and Innovation (ODI) — picked several state agencies to pilot GenAI proofs of concept (POCs) to test the potential for the technology to address state challenges, such as traffic, language access and housing affordability. GovOps announced a second round of POCs with three state entities at the end of last year, with procurement still underway as of this month. Newsom’s Request for Innovative Ideas (RFI2) is the procurement model being used in the process.
“The administration launched an initial version of the PDL process in February and expects to launch a final version of the PDL in July,” the LAO report says. “While the process currently only applies to GenAI projects, the administration expects to add additional technology projects (including state IT projects) to PDL in the future.”
But before moving too far too fast, LAO recommends three precautions for state leaders:
- Require the administration to report on outcomes of the first round of GenAI POCs.
- Limit the use of the new PDL process to current GenAI POCs, and require reporting on outcomes from the pilot.
- Require the administration to continue holding monthly meetings with legislative staff with updates.
This week's LAO report can be viewed online.
