Massachusetts Establishes Task Force to Scale AI Adoption in the State

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has signed an Executive Order established an AI Strategic Task Force, comprising 26 members, to analyze the impact of AI and generative AI across various sectors in the state. The Task Force includes representatives from business, higher education, and government, with a focus on advising the government on AI implementation and fostering its adoption in industries.

The Task Force's primary goal is to provide recommendations supporting businesses and startups in adopting and scaling AI, emphasizing key sectors like education, healthcare, robotics, and financial services. To achieve this, it will collaborate with stakeholders and experts to gather input and insights.

Moreover, a partnership between the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security, and Northeastern University on InnovateMA aims to deploy AI solutions in state government departments, focusing on specific use cases within MassHealth, MassDOT, and the MBTA RIDE paratransit service.

The Task Force, which initiated its work in February, plans to present its final recommendations later in the year. Simultaneously, the InnovateMA pilot program is set to conclude in July.

Unraveling the AI Task Force

The members of the AI Strategic Task Force include representatives from various sectors, such as higher education, technology, healthcare, and government.

The Task Force aims to position Massachusetts at the forefront of AI utilization, acknowledging AI as a transformative technology capable of making predictions, recommendations, or decisions based on human objectives.

It will create subject-specific working groups to generate recommendations for leveraging AI in leading sectors, aligning with the Administration's Economic Development Plan, Team MA: Leading Future Generations.

"Massachusetts has the opportunity to be a global leader in Applied AI – but it’s going to take us bringing together the brightest minds in tech, business, education, health care and government. That’s exactly what this task force will do,” says Healey. “Members of the task force will collaborate on strategies that keep us ahead of the curve by leveraging AI and GenAI technology, which will bring significant benefit to our economy and communities across the state.”

Healey will seek $100 million in her upcoming economic development legislation to create an Applied AI Hub in Massachusetts. The funding will be used for a capital grant program to support the adoption and application of AI capabilities to solve public policy problems and to advance the state’s lead in technology sectors, including life sciences, healthcare, financial services, advanced manufacturing, robotics and education.

Subject to the legislative process, this capital fund will position the state to act on the strategic goals and priorities of the AI Strategic Task Force established by this Executive Order and will focus on capital expenses related to the incubation of AI firms, adoption of AI technologies and the development of AI software and hardware technology development and commercialization.

Task Force Members

Co-chaired by Secretary Yvonne Hao from the Executive Office of Economic Development (EOED) and Secretary Jason Snyder from the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS), alongside Mike Milligan, the Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the University of Massachusetts, and Santiago Garces, Chief Information Officer of the City of Boston.

Other notable participants include Senator Michael Moore from the Massachusetts Senate; Erica Bradshaw, Chief Technology Officer at Harvard; Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier from the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and Usama Fayyad, Professor and Executive Director at the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University.

The task force also includes Patricia Geli, Co-founder of C10 Labs of MIT; Segun Idowu, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion for the City of Boston; Dr. Robert Johnson, President of Western New England University; Meghan Joyce, CEO and Founder of Duckbill; Patrick Larkin, Deputy Director at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative; Jeffrey Leiden, Executive Chairman of Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Spyros Matsoukas, Vice President and Distinguished AI Scientist at Amazon; Vipin Mayar, Executive Vice President and Head of AI Innovation at Fidelity; Sears Merritt, Head of Enterprise Technology and Experience at MassMutual; Armen Mkrtchyan, Origination Partner at Flagship Pioneering; Jane Moran, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Mass General Brigham; among others.