State Wants Vendors’ Ideas for GenAI in Housing, Jobs, Finance

The state announced Friday that it’s seeking innovative ideas from industry on how it can use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the areas of housing, finance and jobs, and it’s doing so under the RFI2 model of challenge-based procurement.

The governor’s office on Friday announced “new progress” in the deployment of GenAI and the creation of a new website, GenAI.ca.gov, which provides updates on the use of GenAI and offers resources to use the tool in several ways.

Of particular interest to the tech industry, the state’s announcement comes with RFI2 challenges in the three areas:

HOUSING CREATION

The challenge is how to accurately, efficiently and transparently determine whether jurisdictions are meeting their housing program commitments to the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which is part of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH). The RFI2 package for housing can be found here.

“By using GenAI to better track and evaluate how local jurisdictions are planning and building housing across California, we can address barriers to housing development and promote affordable housing investments in neighborhoods of opportunity,” BCSH Secretary Tomiquia Moss said in the governor’s announcement.

WORKFORCE PLANNING

The Employment Development Department and its parent, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), are intending to use GenAI “to refine statistical models to enhance recession forecasting and align economic predictions with emerging employment trends,” the announcement says. “Utilizing GenAI solutions may produce more accurate recession forecasts to better inform state and local workforce planning and policy development.”

The RFI2 package for workforce can be found here.

“AI is a potentially powerful tool for honing our ability to predict when our fellow residents will need economic assistance and what kinds of workforce training will best prepare them for the jobs of the future,” LWDA Secretary Stewart Knox said in Friday’s announcement.

STREAMLINED BILL ANALYSIS

The California Department of Finance is seeking a solution to reduce the manual research workload for budget analysts in assessing the costs of legislation.

“We look forward to potentially leveraging AI technology to streamline our workload, improve decision-making and ensure responsible allocation of California’s financial resources,” Director of Finance Joe Stephenshaw said in the announcement.

The RFI2 package for finance can be found here.

WHAT LIES AHEAD

Friday’s announcement follows a GenAI Innovator Showcase event in September in which dozens of companies — including Esri, Microsoft, OpenAI, Google and My Town AI — demonstrated how GenAI can be brought to bear to solve critical challenges.

“Using the research gathered, the state has chosen to move into the next phase, a formal procurement process where innovators will bring refined solutions to the table and compete to partner with the state,” said the announcement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.

One of the executive champions of the work is Amy Tong, former state CIO and director of the California Department of Technology and now secretary of the Government Operations Agency.

“Our hard work is paying off after months of thorough research and engaging with the innovator community to determine whether GenAI is the answer to some of the challenges the state is currently facing,” Tong said in the announcement. “Gov. Newsom has made clear his priority to leverage technology and innovation to deliver a government that works for every Californian, while also keeping the state a global leader in cutting-edge tech.”

The industry has a six-week window to respond to the requests for innovative ideas, after which the state will evaluate and potentially award contracts for vendors to test their proposed solutions in a “sandbox” environment.

“As part of the state’s innovative procurement process, the state will pay innovators only $1 to test their solutions, providing the state and the innovators the unique opportunity to test and learn together from the technology,” the statement reads.

The new GenAI.ca.gov website “serves as a one-stop resource for state staff, the innovator community, and those following California’s nation-leading progress on testing opportunities to safely and responsibly use GenAI tools to address current challenges,” Newsom’s announcement said.