By Ojobo Agbo Eje, Michael Akinwumi, Itzhak Yanovitzky, and Kristoffer Shields

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various sectors of the economy across the world, from health, transportation, and finance to the workforce, education, and many others. A tidal wave of AI legislation is sweeping across state legislatures. The number of AI-related bills has skyrocketed from just over 200 in 2023 to nearly 700 in 2024,[1] signaling a dramatic shift in the regulatory landscape. This surge prompts careful attention from policymakers, industry leaders, and concerned citizens alike.

Navigating the complex world of AI adoption can be a daunting task for state lawmakers and agencies. With the rapid advancement of AI technologies and the wave of state AI bills, it is crucial to balance innovation with opportunity while mitigating potential societal risks. Recognizing this need, researchers at the Eagleton Science and Politics Program at the Eagleton Insitute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick have launched the State AI Preparedness (SAIP) project with funding from the New Jersey State Policy Lab. This project aims to develop an index (“SAIP index”) that cuts through AI adoption complexities, revealing clear, actionable insights for effective AI integration into public services at the state level. The index will simplify the process of evaluating and benchmarking AI adoption efforts, spotting trends, and empowering state lawmakers, agencies and elected leaders to make informed decisions that benefit their constituents.

The SAIP index uses four pillars to measure states’ readiness to integrate AI into their public services: government, AI workforce, data, and infrastructure. These pillars will enable state policymakers, technology leaders, and other stakeholders to move toward integrating AI in ways that benefit residents of their states. The AI State Preparedness index will help serve as a cornerstone for building safe, secure, and trustworthy AI governance frameworks, ensuring that technological advancements benefit society while mitigating potential risks, and it is closely connected to the AI governance efforts in different states.

New Jersey exemplifies this state-level AI preparedness through its recent Senate Legislative Oversight Committee hearing,[2] which brought together key stakeholders to examine the state’s AI landscape and chart its future direction. Under Committee Chairman Andrew Zwicker’s leadership, the hearing addressed fundamental questions about AI definition and governance while exploring New Jersey’s potential as a responsible leader in AI innovation. The timing of this legislative discussion is particularly noteworthy, coming after the launch of the Next New Jersey Program’s AI company tax credits and the establishment of a dedicated AI Task Force under the state’s Chief AI Strategist. These coordinated efforts demonstrate how states can systematically strengthen their AI readiness across the SAIP index’s key pillars of government, workforce, data, and infrastructure.

As Judith Sheft, Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission on Science, Innovation, and Technology, testified before the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee, “New Jersey is positioning itself to bridge academia, industry, and government, creating a supportive ecosystem for responsible AI.” Our focus on an evidence-informed measure of state readiness to adopt AI is particularly relevant to New Jersey’s goal of becoming “a hub of AI innovation, attracting talent, companies, and academic partnerships that can drive responsible AI growth,” as shared by Tim Sullivan, CEO of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), during the Senate hearing.

The Four Pillars of the SAIP Index: Evaluating AI Readiness

Each of the four pillars of the index will provide insights into how prepared states are for the integration of AI into public service:

  • Government: This pillar assesses each state’s regulatory frameworks, strategic AI vision, and guardrails. It considers whether a state has policies to guide AI use responsibly, ensuring that AI applications align with public welfare. In New Jersey, for example, officials emphasize the need for frameworks that build public trust and protect citizen rights. Stacey Gray, Senior Director for AI at the Future of Privacy Forum, emphasized this point at the Senate Legislative Committee Oversight hearing, saying, “Policy approaches to AI need to be targeted, risk-based, and built on long-standing legal principles.” The SAIP project will serve as a foundation for further research, enabling rigorous testing of various AI governance approaches at the state level. This includes evaluating the efficacy of risk-based, rules-based, principles-based, and outcome-based frameworks, as well as their potential combinations, to determine the most effective strategies for responsible AI legislation.
  • AI Workforce: The AI workforce pillar evaluates a state’s robustness of AI-related industries, as well as their AI workforce capabilities, including the availability of skilled professionals. This dimension is critical for ensuring that the human resources necessary to support AI growth are in place. At the hearing,[3] NJEDA’s Tim Sullivan highlighted the state’s commitment to building a sustainable AI ecosystem: “The most critical ingredient to a sustainable AI ecosystem is talent … we need clear training pathways from high school through community colleges to four-year colleges and beyond.”
  • Data: High-quality, unbiased data is essential for training AI systems that serve the public equitably. Aaron Fichtner, President of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, stated the importance of equitable AI development, stating that New Jersey’s community colleges are uniquely positioned to address data-related inequities, especially among underserved populations. “We must ensure that AI tools do not amplify existing societal divides,” he remarked, emphasizing the need for inclusivity in AI. This pillar examines data availability, quality, and representativeness.
  • Infrastructure: Ensuring that AI systems are backed by sufficient infrastructure is key to their effectiveness. The infrastructure pillar assesses the capacity of each state to support AI-driven services through technology infrastructure like energy, network capabilities, hardware, and cloud resources. As Kyle Sullender from the NJBIA’s testimony to the Legislature pointed out, “AI has the capacity to transform our economy, but only if we have the energy necessary to power its operations.”
The Road Ahead

The journey toward responsible AI governance is fraught with complexities and uncertainties. The SAIP index can help offer clarity and empower state-level policymakers. It can serve as a compass, guiding them through the intricate landscape of AI policy to make informed decisions that foster innovation while safeguarding societal values.

The SAIP index will provide a framework for evaluating AI readiness. States equipped with SAIP insights can take a proactive approach to address both the opportunities and challenges posed by AI. The index’s focus on actionable insights will help inform policies that align with each state’s capacity to adopt AI in the context of its priorities for innovation, risk management, and governance.

The road ahead for AI governance is paved with both opportunities and challenges. The SAIP index, with its comprehensive assessment and actionable insights, provides a roadmap for navigating this complex landscape. By embracing this tool, states can embark on a journey toward a future where AI technologies are harnessed for the betterment of their constituents.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Anna Dulencin for her invaluable contributions to this project. Her insightful suggestions, expert advice, and meticulous copyediting significantly enhanced the quality and clarity of this article.

 

Ojobo Agbo Eje is a data scientist at Rutgers University-Camden, Michael Akinwumi is a Civic Science Fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, Itzhak Yanovitzky is a professor at the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, and Kristoffer Shields is a director of the Eagleton Center on the American Governor at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

 

References:

[1] Baksh, M. (2024, October 23). BSA aims to steer ‘wave’ of state AI legislation toward risk-based approach. Inside AI Policy.

[2] New Jersey Senate Legislative Oversight. (2024, October 21). Senate Legislative Oversight Hearing on Artificial Intelligence. Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/4fqQJes

[3] New Jersey Senate Legislative Oversight. (2024, October 21). Senate Legislative Oversight Hearing on Artificial Intelligence. Committee Room 4, 1st Floor, State House Annex, Trenton, NJ. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/4fqQJes