What happened
Code for America released the second annual Government AI Landscape Assessment, evaluating all 50 U.S. states across four stages: Readiness, Piloting, Implementation, and Impact. Seven states—Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Vermont—are identified as leaders. Key findings: Nearly all states have piloted AI, but few have established evaluation mechanisms to measure public value. Many states progressed from Readiness to Piloting in the past year, but far fewer reached widespread Implementation. The Impact stage (monitoring and measuring long-term effects on public services) remains aspirational across the country. New Jersey scaled an internal AI assistant to 15,000 government workers (1M+ prompts), achieving 35% faster response times in the Department of Labor and 50% increase in resolved calls in the Division of Taxation. Texas enacted TRAIGA (Responsible AI Governance Act), creating a state AI Council and regulatory sandbox. Most states struggle with legacy IT systems, sustainable funding, talent gaps in data science and AI project management, and the transition from pilots to operational infrastructure.
Why it matters
For federal policymakers, procurement officials, and state CIOs, this report maps the U.S. public sector's AI maturity at a granular level. The gap between piloting and implementation—and the near-absence of impact measurement—signals that government AI adoption is happening faster than governance and evaluation infrastructure can support. The seven leader states provide replicable models for executive orders, cross-agency governance, and structured experimentation.
Action needed
State CIOs and digital service teams: Benchmark your stage against the assessment's framework and prioritize building impact measurement infrastructure before scaling additional pilots. Federal agencies considering state partnerships: Focus procurement and technical assistance on the Readiness-to-Implementation transition, not net-new pilot funding.