New Jersey’s new artificial intelligence training for state government workers is the first of two courses arriving this summer, designed to introduce the technology’s use before exploring how to scale it.

The state announced the arrival of “Responsible AI for Public Professions: Using Generative AI at Work” on July 3; it’s a free course created by and for public-sector professionals, aimed at supporting the understanding and adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in government.

Launched by InnovateUS, a nonprofit initiative from the Burnes Center for Social Change at Northeastern University, and The Governance Lab (GovLab), it’s aimed at informing state employees on AI — but is available to all public-sector professionals.

What are the Course Objectives?

Center and GovLab Director Beth Simone Noveck, an AI leader in nonprofits and the public sector, noted the common theme of “the desperate need for introduction and familiarization” expressed by public-sector professionals during the course’s design.

Noveck, New Jersey’s first chief AI strategist, emphasized that the course was developed with input from over 100 stakeholders in academia and the private and public sectors.

Why is AI Training Important?

“It really was a massive collaborative effort to ensure that we were creating something that was really for public servants and that would be responsive to what people felt they wanted and needed,” Noveck said. She explained that while many have read about AI tools, the actual practice of using these tools is often lacking.

Earlier this year, InnovateUS released results from a multi-month engagement process, revealing a desire among public professionals for both baseline and specialized training in using AI. AI training models are increasingly being launched at the state level in places like New Jersey and Oklahoma to address the need for AI skills in broader digital skills training efforts.

What Can Participants Expect?

This new course offers hands-on applications of various tools. Its design is platform-agnostic, allowing participants to experience demos on platforms including Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude. This was an intentional decision, as government entities have different rules and needs for AI tools. The course does not suggest one tool is superior to another but rather shares general principles on working with these tools.

With the AI landscape rapidly evolving, course content is intended to be living and agile; updates are planned every six months — or sooner if necessary.

“Just from where we were a year ago to where we are now, there have been so many changes in the power of these models that we know we will need to update this,” Noveck said.

Conclusion

For agencies with limited capacity or resources that have not yet explored AI, this course can provide an entry point to better understanding the purpose of GenAI tools and their potential applications in government: “This is partly meant to help satisfy some of that curiosity and answer that question: why should my agency and its employees be using these tools?”

Noveck believes AI is the technology with the most transformative power she has seen in her lifetime. For government officials, there is a responsibility to critically evaluate both the risks and opportunities presented by emerging technologies while serving as key regulators of AI. To effectively regulate these technologies, understanding their use is imperative.

“I think it’s incumbent upon us as public professionals to serve the public interest, and anything that can help us to do that is something we should be evaluating and exploring,” Noveck said.

For participants who complete this course and wish to further their education, InnovateUS will launch another course expected to be available in late August. The first course focuses on individual-level questions about how AI tools can enhance productivity, while the second will explore scaling AI within organizations.

InnovateUS also hosts live workshops twice weekly on technology topics, including AI. A coaching program for those who have taken this AI course is set to launch “very soon,” according to Noveck. The goal of these resources is to create an “ecosystem of learning.”