Shapiro Unveils AI Pilot Program Results at Carnegie Mellon

Today, Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian welcomed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro back to campus to share findings from a 12-month generative AI pilot between the commonwealth and OpenAI, announced from CMU in February of 2024.

Shapiro revealed(opens in new window) that the vast majority of participating employees reported having positive experiences using ChatGPT, and users saved, on average, 95 minutes per day while using the tool.

“This first-in-the-nation pilot was led by Gov. Josh Shapiro, powered by talented Pennsylvanians and shaped by some of the world’s finest scientists and engineers here at Carnegie Mellon University and OpenAI,” Jahanian said. “It is a remarkable collaboration and one that underscores the immense capacity and inevitable necessity of AI in helping governments operate more efficiently, effectively and responsively."

Shapiro was effusive in his praise of Carnegie Mellon’s record of teaching and training the next generation of AI engineers and scientists. 

“Wherever you go, in Pennsylvania, or indeed, across this great country, it is CMU’s name that is often on people’s minds and on their lips when they talk about the kind of innovation you’re seeing in AI, and robotics and technology,” the governor said. “Using the framework from my executive order, signed right here at CMU, my administration set out to explore how you can take advantage of Gen AI, and effectively, safely and responsibly incorporate it into the work that we do.” 

Pennsylvania has a workforce of 80,000 people, and Shapiro expounded on the ways his administration was using AI and enhancing efficiency throughout state government by cutting wait times, speeding up services and permit applications, and aiding in writing and research. 

The pilot launched last year in collaboration with Open AI. Pennsylvania’s Office of Administration (OA) partnered with leading generative AI experts and researchers from CMU’s Block Center for Technology and Society throughout the pilot. 

Block Center Staff oversaw and facilitated graduate student research in partnership with OA staff. A team of six graduate students from the Heinz School of Information Systems and Public Policy(opens in new window) participated in a systems synthesis capstone project in which they conducted an AI landscaping analysis for the OA and Emerging Technologies team, benchmarking Pennsylvania’s goals and existing processes for GenAI technology against neighboring states. Additionally, the student team created a tool to facilitate scoping problems and identify the appropriate AI tool for commonwealth employees to use and propose new use-cases for this technology. The Block Center will be continuing to support the commonwealth post-pilot with ongoing expertise and support in the application of AI tools, including additional graduate student research projects.

Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer at Open AI, discussed feeling at home in Pittsburgh during the announcement. 

“It seems like every other researcher and engineer at Open AI comes from CMU,” Lehane said, looking at several CMU students in the room who had committed to jobs at Open AI post-commencement. 

After the success of the pilot, Pennsylvania will expand the use of generative AI tools to more commonwealth employees while continuing to improve and examine the use of these tools across the government. The pilot report can be read here(opens in new window). 

“It is no exaggeration to say that AI has emerged as the single most important intellectual development of our time. And that the advances in Gen AI and other related technologies have amplified the potential impact on our economy and our global society,” Jahanian said. “It’s so wonderful to see that Pennsylvania is leading this charge.”