Priorities Podcast

On this week's Priorities podcast, Code for America Chief Executive Officer Amanda Renteria explains how a recent chatbot project informed the creation of the organization's new AI Studio, which involves in-person and virtual workshops to explore the importance of testing and scaling AI tools. Code for America last year released an AI-powered chatbot for GetCalFresh, a digital enrollment assistant...

Alongside concerns of cyberattacks and a growing interest in generative artificial intelligence, efforts to improve digital services are retaining status in the offices of state chief information officers. On this week's Priorities podcast, Ohio CIO Katrina Flory and New Hampshire CIO Denis Goulet share how their digital services efforts are maturing in 2024. Speaking last spring from the National...

Tracey Haslam, CEO of the recycler Full Circle Electronics, joins StateScoop’s Priorities podcast to discuss how her company helps government agencies dispose of e-waste responsibly and comply with data-destruction standards and other state policies. Haslam says e-waste can become a threat to the environment and human health if not properly treated. For government agencies, which dispose of millio...

John Blythe, director of cyber psychology at the English software company Immersive Labs, joins this week’s Priorities podcast to share the results of a recent study that revealed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in generative AI chatbots and why he believes that many cybersecurity training programs aren’t as effective as they could be. Blythe says one frequent mistake in cyber training programs is t...

State CIOs are continuing their cautious embrace of generative artificial intelligence, along with all the opportunities and challenges it brings to government operations. On this week's Priorities podcast, two state chief information officers share updates on their latest efforts to improve their IT organizations, speaking from the midyear conference in National Harbor, Maryland, early this month...

John Toney, Vermont's new chief information security officer, starts his day with threat intelligence briefs — reading, watching or listening to the latest cybersecurity news. Toney, a former Secret Service special agent, joined Vermont's Agency of Digital Services last month, at a time when more sophisticated cyberattacks against state and local governments across the United States are on the ris...

On this week's Priorities Podcast, we're joined by Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and former Congressman Jim Langevin to discuss the state's new artificial intelligence task force, which was created by an executive order signed in March and chaired by Langevin. "There's two sides of this coin — there is a really positive side of the AI, and there's a potentially damaging side of AI. So we have to get...

On this week’s Priorities podcast, StateScoop’s editorial staff share what they’ve learned in recent weeks while reporting on data privacy, broadband and other state government IT news. A South Carolina Senate finance subcommittee issued a report claiming that the state’s treasurer, Curtis Loftis, risked a cyberattack by claiming that he would post detailed information about the state’s finances o...

Earlier this month, the North Carolina 911 Board, a division of the N.C. Department of Information Technology, announced the state has completed a yearslong effort to modernize its aging emergency response system to a next-generation 911 platform. ​​Next-generation 911 provides a faster, more resilient system that allows digital information — including voice, photos, videos and text messages — to...

Abdullah Hammoud at Google Cloud Next '24

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Christia Hallquist, director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, and Heryn Herzog, the board’s communications and outreach manager, talk about the creation of the documentary “Connected: Vermont’s Grassroots Effort for Rural Broadband.”  The documentary, which was released in March, explores the parallels between Vermont’s grassroot-effort to connect homes...

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Debbie Cox Bultan, chief executive of NewDeal, a nonprofit that works with government officials on democratic policies, joins us to discuss how state legislators and election officials are combatting AI-generated deepfakes. As states across the country race to pass legislation that targets the production of AI-generated deepfakes in an effort to curb deceptive in...

On this week's Priorities podcast, two experts from the International Association of Privacy Professionals join us to discuss what's coming down the pipeline this year in state legislatures regarding data privacy, as 17 states are currently considering at least one privacy bill in committee. Cobun Zweifel-Keegan, the managing director of IAPP, and Andrew Folks, IAPP's Westin Research Fellow, break...

On this week’s Priorities podcast, two election experts — Ted Allen, a professor at Ohio State University, and Victoria Bassetti, senior adviser at States United Democracy Center — join us to discuss voting as we head into the 2024 election season. With the U.S. 2024 presidential election 8 months away, this episode addresses how state and local governments are preparing for the upcoming election...

On this week's Priorities podcast, four state chief information security officers say generative AI presents an opportunity for states to embrace an emerging technology and "really do things right." During a panel discussion at StateScoop's Cybersecurity Modernization Summit this week, Vitaliy Panych, the CISO of California, says he's trying to overlay security controls into the entire process of...

On this week's Priorities podcast, New Jersey's Chief Innovation Officer says that digital services are a top focus for him as he steps into the role. Dave Cole, who took the helm of the state's innovation team in January, says he's also looking at how the state can incorporate generative artificial intelligence into processes to save employees time. Cole started at the state in 2020 as an innovat...

On this week’s Priorities podcast, two IT leaders from Normal, Illinois, say the future of the “smart cities” movement may be in small cities like theirs. Vasu Gadhiraju, the CIO of Normal, Illinois — a town in central Illinois with 54,000 residents — says that while the phrase “smart cities” means different things to different communities, it indicates an attempt to embrace change and innovation...

On this week's Priorities podcast, Washington state Chief Information Officer Bill Kehoe says he thinks the state's recent executive order could help agencies better understand the many implications AI has for their operations. https://statescoop.com/washington-governor-signs-ai-order-plotting-yearlong-policy-path/ StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday.  Listen more here. pri...

On this week's Priorities podcast, Alaska’s Chief Information Officer Bill Smith talks about the challenges and successes of his state's cloud migration, which so far has included the migration of over 700 state applications from physical data centers into the cloud without interrupting service to the residents of Alaska. StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more her...

On this week's Priorities podcast, researchers at the National Institute for Standards and Technology warn of new artificial intelligence threats. https://statescoop.com/nist-security-threats-ai-state-local/ StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here. http://www.prioritiespodcast.com/

On this week's Priorities podcast, Pennsylvania CIO Amaya Capellan says the state's purchase of 50 enterprise ChatGPT licenses is a "natural way" for the state to get involved in generative artificial intelligence. statescoop.com/pennsylvania-openai-chatgpt-pilot-program-2024/ In the news this week: Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick is alleging that the state’s Secretary of State has refused to p...

On this week's Priorities podcast, the author behind a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission against automated public-benefit fraud detection software explains why he's asking for more responsible use of artificial intelligence by governments and their vendors. https://statescoop.com/nonprofit-ftc-complaint-automated-benefits-responsible-ai/ StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every T...

On this week's Priorities podcast, Code for America's Eleanor Davis and No Kid Hungry's Marisa Kirk-Epstein explain a new playbook designed to help state governments connect students to nutritious food options over the summer. statescoop.com/code-for-america-playbook-summer-ebt-program/ StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday.  Listen more here. prioritiespodcast.com

On this week’s Priorities podcast, Nevada CIO Timothy Galluzi says the move of the state’s IT office from the Department of Administration to the Office of the Governor is helping his team become a “great enabler of government services." StateScoop’s Priorities podcast is available every Thursday. Listen more here. http://www.prioritiespodcast.com/

n this week's Priorities podcast, two Kansas information technology officials say their state is preparing for the embrace of artificial intelligence as it approaches key state priorities like cybersecurity and digital services. statescoop.com/kansas-generative-artificial-intelligence-policy/ Also on the podcast, Maryland's new CIO Greg Rogers offers his thoughts on how the state can continue to e...