June 2024 Privacy Points

Artificial intelligence

We are firing on all cylinders about AI initiatives in Washington: 

  • The AI Community of Practice subcommittees are working on AI policy and governance, risk assessments, and use cases for the state.
  • WaTech, Department of Enterprise Services (DES), Office of Financial Management (OFM), Washington’s Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTB), and the Office of Equity (OOE) are working hard on deliverables required under Gov. Inslee’s Executive Order 24-01.
  • Attorney General Bob Ferguson has named the AI Taskforce members, who expect to meet in July. I am honored to be named as one of the Executive Committee members and look forward to this important work as outlined in SB 5838.
Table describing the composition of the AI Community of Practice, the deliverables outlined in Gov. Inslee's executive order, and the composition of the Attorney General's AI taskforce

I also had the opportunity to speak on a national panel through GovExec’s Route Fifty media earlier this month about Washington’s state’s approach to AI. I was joined by my public sector colleagues, Boston CIO Santiago Garces, and Nishant Shah, Maryland’s senior adviser for responsible AI. Check out the full interview on WaTech’s YouTube channel.

Enterprise Privacy and Data Protection policy

The Enterprise Privacy and Data Protection policy was officially adopted on June 24, 2024, by the Technical Services Board. Thank you to everyone for your participation in helping the Office for Privacy and Data Protection get this over the finish line. This is a big moment for privacy in Washington, as it is the first enterprise policy dedicated to privacy. You can watch the educational webinar on YouTube and access the slide deck slide deck on WaTech’s website. We also plan to post additional resources, such as privacy notice implementation guidance and sample privacy principle policies on our Government Agency Resources page on WaTech’s website. We will share more information about these resources at the Quarterly State Agency Privacy Forum meeting on Thursday, June 27.

In case you missed it

Thanks to Steve Tout, host of the Nonconformist Innovation Podcast, for having me and Socure’s VP of Public Sector Strategy, Jordan Burris, on his show. Burris was also the former Chief of Staff for the Federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget. We had a great conversation about ethics, AI, and the future of identity verification. Listen to the full episode on the Nonconformist Innovation Podcast site.

Thanks, and see you next month with more updates!

Katy Ruckle
State Chief Privacy Officer