The state of New Jersey launched a voluntary training course on Wednesday to teach state employees best practices for using generative AI responsibly in their daily work, as well as strategies for identifying and overcoming risks such as bias.

The state also launched the NJ AI Assistant, a generative AI tool that provides a responsible way for state employees to test the use cases outlined in the training program on a secure platform with security and privacy protections. According to the announcement, the assistant will be hosted on state servers, will have security and privacy features, and will not use state data to train third-party AI models.

“With the launch of the state's AI Assistant and GenAI training course, we are on the cusp of a new era of government transformation,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said of the announcement. “We are equipping our officials with the knowledge, skills and training to comfortably and responsibly use this technology to solve real problems for the citizens of New Jersey.”

The initiatives are part of an executive order that created the New Jersey AI Task Force and directed the state Office of Information Technology to develop policies to regulate and facilitate the use of artificial intelligence. Similar to California, Illinois, Vermont and many other states, New Jersey has begun exploring how generative AI can improve government services.

The New Jersey Office of Innovation is using AI to reword emails from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development in plain language. The state claims this has resulted in state residents responding 35% faster. The New Jersey Division of Taxation is using AI to analyze calls to its property tax program call center and improve self-service menu options. The state claims this has resulted in a 50% increase in the number of successfully resolved calls.

According to New Jersey's announcement, the AI ​​training course was designed with input from industry leaders, state public sector employees and federal officials.

The course also teaches civil servants how to use generative AI to translate complex government topics into simple language to disseminate public information, summarize long documents, brainstorm, generate new content – ​​and more.

“I look forward to seeing how our departments and agencies will leverage this technology to ensure New Jersey continues to be the best place to live, work and raise a family,” Murphy said.