The State of California on Wednesday announced a new GenAI-related training program for state employees. 

The GenAI training, based on a new report, was developed by the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR), the Office of Data and Innovation (ODI), and the California Department of Technology (CDT), in collaboration with the Government Operations Agency (GovOps) and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA). The fundamental and technical training draws upon the State of California’s “Benefits and Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence Report” from November 2023 and the “GenAI Guidelines for Public Sector, Procurement, Uses, and Training” released in March 2024.  It’s part of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-12-23 on GenAI, issued last fall. 

“This collaborative effort to upskill our staff is empowering our state’s workforce with a new set of tools designed to drive more effective and equitable outcomes, while providing the high level of customer experience that Californians have come to expect of their government,” said ODI Director Jeffery Marino in a press statement. 

The primary goals of these guidelines are to upskill the workforce, ensuring they have the necessary skills and competencies to use GenAI effectively and safely. They also aim to mitigate risks such as output inaccuracies and biases. The guidelines emphasize the need for safe, secure, and responsible implementation of GenAI in business processes, as well as preparing the workforce for future technological advancements and needs.

In developing the training guidelines, the state partnered with various stakeholder groups, subject matter experts, and academics from both the public and private sectors. CalHR also entered a no-cost partnership with InnovateUS to develop the general workforce training. The training programs are tailored for different groups, including the general workforce, business leaders, program staff, and technical and cybersecurity experts.

The objectives for the general workforce training include understanding what GenAI is, recognizing the associated risks and how to minimize them, and identifying potential use cases for GenAI. Business leader training modules focus on privacy, security, project identification, data quality, talent development, and ethical considerations. Technical training covers areas such as security, data analytics, engineering and development, and project management, provided by various vendors.

Seven key roles have been identified as essential in the implementation of GenAI: GenAI Analyst/Specialist, Data Analyst, GenAI User Researcher, GenAI Program Lead, Engineer, GenAI Equity Officer/Executive, and Data Scientist.

The deployment of the general workforce training is scheduled for July 2024, with business leader modules to follow in August 2024.