North Dakota agencies optimistic, hesitant on incorporating AI

Some North Dakota state agencies already use artificial intelligence to lighten their workloads, but wider use will require a more measured approach, according to multiple state officials.

During a meeting of the Information Technology Committee on Wednesday, members of the North Dakota’s Health and Human Services Department, Secretary of State’s Office and Governor’s Office presented lawmakers with their current and possible future applications for incorporating AI into their departments.

Deputy Secretary of State Sandy McMerty said the state’s election processes do not, and don’t plan to, use AI technology. She said their ballot handling equipment will also never be connected to the internet, nor include any components to connect them to the internet. However, the department may still incorporate AI in other ways to assist with administrative tasks in the future.

“We think about the area of customer service,” McMerty said. Adding, many businesses have already started using chatbots to help assist customers with website purchases and linking them to information or services, which is how the Secretary of State’s Office could also utilize AI technology.

She also said it could help detect fraud among the electronic filings that come through the office and help automate some workflow processes that could free up staff members to do other tasks.

Sara Stolt, deputy commissioner of North Dakota’s Health and Human Services Department, said she believes AI will be more widely used in her department as long as patient information remains secured.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act protects private medical information from being shared outside of patients, health care providers and health plan providers.

“Before we deploy any solution that would have access to HIPAA, we’re going to go through NDIT, the appropriate security channels, our HIPAA privacy and security officer to make sure we’re not violating people’s confidentiality or rights,” Stolt said. 

She said AI is being used at HHS for their external messaging to ensure the information is clear and concise and at the appropriate reading level to engage as many North Dakotans as possible. In human services, she said they have started using the technology to determine who is eligible for certain programs and services. They’ve also implemented AI for some human resources activities, like posting job openings.

In the future, Stolt said they’d be able to use AI to determine eligibility for grants and write requests for funding. They are also hopeful that future AI analytics will be able to predict diseases and outcomes on a longer timeline.

“As we look at claims data … are there trends? Are there certain indicators that are found in lab results that can tell us 10 years from now that we should target this population for certain disease prevention?” Stolt said. She added the same analytics could be used to analyze trends in child welfare cases.

Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, asked Stolt whether new AI technology would help the department with workforce issues.

“It’s not about reducing positions,” she said. “Automation and AI are going to allow us to focus on the right work where we could have technology doing the work that could be automated.”

Mason Sisk, senior policy advisor for Gov. Doug Burgum, said the state wants to implement these new technologies safely and effectively because they believe their employees will be able to “achieve more with less.”

He also said utility and energy providers are going to need to be brought into the conversation so they can plan for increased power demands in using the new technology.

“We know there is going to be a large amount of computing power associated with that and new data centers need to be stood up,” Sisk said.

Sen. Greg Kessel, R-Belfield, said utility rates went up for North Dakotans living in the northwest because of a new data center that opened and stretched the electric capacity.

“This is just starting, and we’re already seeing the ramifications of that where you have local people that are getting upcharged because, all of a sudden, the industry was there,” Kessel said. “They are running short on power now … because energy is a huge part of what we’re talking about here.”

He suggested we may need to go back to coal-fired power plants to keep up with future demand.

Sisk said, by bringing utility companies into the planning stages for any new AI data centers, they’ll be able to ensure North Dakotans won’t be negatively affected by the power demands.

Kuldip Mohanty, chief information officer for North Dakota, said, even with AI technology, critical thinking humans are going to play a vital role in making sure the data being input into the AI is accurate and correct and the information being produced by the technology is also correct.

“Critical thinking is going to become the new next frontier,” Mohanty said.