Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has launched a new working group to study and offer recommendations for the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI) within Arkansas state government.

The Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services (TSS) Division of Information Systems (DIS) has named Robert McGough as the state’s new chief data officer (CDO).

During its 2021 Midyear Conference underway this week, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) took a break from more serious sessions to give attendees a chance to get to know state IT leadership.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson released the Arkansas State Broadband Map, an interactive tool that allows Arkansans to find broadband providers in their neighborhood and assists state agencies in developing broadband policy. 

NIC this month launched the first digital personal government assistant, Gov2Go, at the annual NASCIO conference. Gov2Go, which is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure public cloud, centralizes services citizens need at the local, state, and Federal level. While the platform was already in use in a few states, the recent launch marks the nationwide rollout.

State and Federal representatives testified to the need for a first responder-only network and offered their support of FirstNet’s efforts during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing.