The County formally adopted our interim “Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence” policy (Policy 6.30a in our Policy and Procedures Manual) in late January, after it had remained in an interim state for more than a year. The policy allows for the limited and responsible use of generative AI tools in support of County business functions.
Currently, we are approving the use of popular tools like ChatGPT and Grammarly, and we strongly encourage employees to use a paid version rather than the free version. The IT Department's current approach to AI is to enable departments to experiment with tools while we provide high-level guidance and best practices.
The AI landscape is evolving extremely quickly, with new tools and capabilities emerging almost weekly. Because of this pace of change, our goal in IT right now is to continue educating ourselves, monitor how staff are using these tools, and learn which solutions provide the most value for County operations. This approach will help us make more informed decisions as we move toward standardizing and recommending specific AI tools. Our only requirement at this time is that departments inform IT of their intended AI use case and the software being used by submitting the Hardware/Software Request Form. Reporting the tools you are using allows us to:
Notify you if we learn of any concerns about the security or reliability of a specific platform, &
Maintain a list of users we can contact for feedback as we work toward identifying recommended tools for specific use cases.
At this time, we do not yet have a formal list of AI tools that IT recommends. However, developing a standardized list of approved tools is a priority for us, and we are hoping to provide clearer recommendations sometime later this year.
Please also note that departments are responsible for any costs associated with AI tools. If IT deploys any tools organization-wide with enterprise licensing, we will communicate that accordingly.
