August 5, 2024 — “Garbage in, garbage out.”
“Algorithms need to be transparent.”
“We need human oversight.”
Those words were repeated throughout the night at the PEF IT Summit on AI in Albany on July 10, where union leaders, top officials from the state Office of Information Technology Services, and state legislators involved in technology and civil service issues gathered to discuss the current status of AI, visions for the future of AI in state government and operations, and what New York needs to do to adapt and thrive.
“We are connecting all these people together to start a conversation,” said PEF Statewide IT Committee Chair Radhakrishna Mohan. “AI is already here. How are we going to catch up with that? How are we going to tackle this and how it will affect our jobs?”
PEF President Wayne Spence, who earned a degree in the tech field before becoming a parole officer, recently met with union leaders from across the state to discuss AI and stressed the urgency of getting ahead of change.
“Technology is evolving daily,” he said. “It’s literally every three months. Some of our skill set is antiquated. The infrastructure in New York is antiquated. How do we get the skill set that New York state needs? How do we do it before New York state sees the union as an impediment?”
Spence said the citizens of New York are going to demand something better from elected leaders if the state workforce doesn’t evolve. Existing AI is already showing signs of trouble – the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) model used in by parole officers has shown bias, as have student loan interest rate predictive algorithms.
“We better start taking a look at some of the unintended bias,” he said.
Bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders is unique, said PEF Division 357 (ITS Statewide) Council Leader Christopher Ford.
“We have PEF, legislators, and people on keyboards that do this day to day,” he said. “This is rare. This is not happening in many places. It’s an incredible part of history.”
Transparency and human involvement
As the director of ITS, Chief Information Officer Dru Rai recognized the contributions of PEF members and union leaders.
“PEF members do outstanding work,” he said. “I know ITS could not begin to serve the people of New York without the relationship between this union and management and I look forward to improving that.
“Tech has never been as important as today and it is getting more important every day,” Rai said. “AI has been here for decades. It can compute at a rate people can’t keep up with and do things faster than hundreds of people. The potential of AI, good or bad, is real.”
Rai stressed the importance of human involvement when AI is utilized.
“As a human being it is our responsibility to get involved and oversee the direction AI should go in,” he said. “We want this technology to be transparent. It cannot be a black box. Algorithms need to be transparent. Human bias can be built into AI and we have to tackle this. That means we get engaged and we cannot back off.”
The “garbage in, garbage out” warning applies across the AI field. Rai said it will be key to know what data is being fed to AI and to ensure there is a human in the middle because “the accuracy of AI is still questionable.”
Training staff on AI will be crucial to prepare the state workforce to work with evolving tech.
“My commitment: We will be hiring more. We will be training more. That includes all of you,” he said. “There are two ways we can go in New York state: You buy it or you build it. At this point, we are buying it. I need more people trained on AI.”
State ITS Deputy Chief Data Officer Christopher O’Connor said communication, collaboration, and transparency will be crucial to AI regulation and use in the coming years.
“It takes a village to move forward,” he said. “AI is a team sport. Policy, user experience, technology, procurement, we need to look at every aspect of government. Generative AI is important globally. We have been using it for decades, but it has more recently captured the attention of the public.”
In January, ITS established an AI working group, which now includes 45 members, many of whom were in the room. There is also an interagency AI working group, established in 2023, that provides input on use cases, checks on policies, and identifies any gaps, O’Connor said.
“Some AI comes with novel risks,” he said. “Erroneous information can be used by AI. It’s important to move forward in an informed manner. AI solutions need to be explainable and agencies need to understand how AI works, the data it relies on, and understand bias and equity. We need human oversight.”
Legislators pledge continued work
Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, chair of the Senate Internet and Technology Committee; Sen. Robert Jackson, chair of the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee; and Assemblymember Alex Bores, a member of the Assembly Technology Committee, offered their insight into what elected leaders are working on and what remains to be done.
Gonzalez, a former tech worker, said the committee focused on cybersecurity, data privacy, and AI over the last two years.
“As an elected official, most on my mind is how are we serving New Yorkers,” she said. “Our responsibility is to make sure we are protecting New Yorkers. How are we creating a future workforce where we are developing the next generation?”
Gonzalez said partnering with unions makes sense.
“I’m really excited to have PEF be a leader on IT and especially what we do moving forward,” she said.
PEF is urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the LOADinG Act, the first bill of its kind in the country that has labor protections. This bill would require continued meaningful human review of AI that impacts public assistance benefits, civil liberties, or Constitutional rights. The LOADinG act would allow for the public to be aware of the extent of AI usage by state agencies and protect and preserve the labor rights of public employees by prohibiting any displacement of workers or reduction in their normal hours.
“[The success of the legislation is] because of the people sitting in this room today,” Gonzalez said. “We want to protect the jobs that we already have. Proactive legislation sets a really important standard for New Yorkers. I deeply thank PEF for getting it across the line.”
Senator Jackson said we are at a technology crossroads.
“The rapid expansion of AI is in every facet of our lives,” he said. “It’s hitting us everywhere. AI technology has reshaped industry, enhanced capabilities, offered solutions to some of the most pressing problems.
“We need more safety and security,” he stressed. “There is a wave of concern about job displacement. The fear that the irreplaceable elements of human ingenuity will be overshadowed. AI cannot and should not supplant human judgement, creativity and spirit. Our challenge is to integrate AI to support and enhance human work, rather than replace it.”
Jackson said he is eager to work and engage with IT professionals like PEF members, state agencies, and legislators to address these issues.
Assemblyman Bores, with an advanced degree in computer science, has been active in AI conversations and participated in an AI-related panel during the 13th annual NewDEAL Leaders Conference in Washington in November 2023.
Bores said leaders must understand the importance of giving the public what they want or risk losing work to those who do it first.
“When people need something from the government, they want to know, ‘Can I get that service’ and ‘does it work?’” he said. That’s where PEF’s input becomes even more valuable. “We can take it to a bill, but it’s really you that do the work that deliver it to New Yorkers. You are true drivers of success.”
He echoed the other speakers on the importance of safeguarding the human element when using AI.
“Anytime we are making a decision, we need human context,” Bores said. “We need people that know the details on the ground. That is where all of you are so important. I trust all of you in your decision-making far more than I trust an AI algorithm. You have years, even decades, of experience. The use of AI should prop you up, not write you off.”
Civil Service implications
Department of Civil Service Commissioner Timothy Hogues has an eye on the AI issue and is seeking input from PEF as jobs evolve to embrace the new technology.
“I know that we have been throwing this term ‘AI’ around for quite some time,” he said. “I am here to listen and better understand how we can move forward together. AI is not a recent phenomenon; it is in almost every aspect of our lives.
“I know our government is investing in AI,” Hogues said. “I am definitely interested and want to be at the table to hear and have conversations about how it impacts the workforce and how we can use it to help do things more efficiently and serve the residents of New York.”
