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Guide to Artificial Intelligence

Guide to Artificial Intelligence

At the State of Colorado, we are dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public services, foster innovation and ensure the ethical, equitable and responsible deployment of emerging technologies. 

With the growing popularity of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), we see its potential to transform how we work at the state, driving efficiency, innovation and new capabilities to serve the public interest and contribute to the overall well-being of Coloradans. At the same time, we understand GenAI raises new risks requiring human judgment and oversight to review for accuracy, bias and completeness.

Woman typing on a typewriter that produces chat boxes

About Colorado's AI Guide

OIT is committed to upholding the highest standards of data protection and privacy, ensuring transparency, and maintaining public trust as we integrate AI into state operations. This Guide to Artificial Intelligence will be continually updated and serve as a resource for state employees, contractors, agencies and vendors as we oversee GenAI governance, drive innovation and provide educational opportunities.

Strategic Approach to GenAI

As part of Colorado's ongoing commitment to be a leader in government technology, we crafted a strategic approach to GenAI that is anchored by three pillars or guiding principles:

  1. Governance | Enhancing current policy and processes to support and guide GenAI initiatives at the state.
  2. Innovation | Providing a framework for ideation and guidance to support early use cases and build long-term capabilities.
  3. Education | Preparing our state employees with appropriate resources to guide the usage and implementation of GenAI solutions.

Statewide GenAI Policy

To ensure the State of Colorado remains at the forefront of GenAI, a Statewide GenAI Policy was developed to ensure security and compliance while streamlining our ability to support GenAI initiatives. All GenAI efforts and use cases, including those conducted by a third-party vendor, must go through OIT to conduct a risk assessment. 

What is AI?

AI applies advanced analysis and logic-based techniques, such as machine learning, deep learning, regression analysis and prescriptive analytics to identify and predict patterns, self-learn and make/execute decisions.
 

What is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)?

GenAI techniques decipher, predict and sequence patterns from representations of data and model artifacts to generate new artifacts, including speech, text, images, video, music, code and models of real-world objects.