While vague concerns and existential concerns have attached to the explosive growth of artificial intelligence – job losses, potential privacy violations, bias, an evil singularity — listening to Mississippi CIO Craig Orgeron can provide an optimistic outlook on how AI could improve government.
During the recent National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) 2025 Annual Conference in Denver, he talked about how quickly technology is changing the workforce — and not necessarily in a negative way that would result in lost wages.
In his outlook — and Orgeron is on his second stint overseeing technology for Mississippi state government — AI is “democratizing technology in a generational way that we’ve never seen,” he said at a news conference. Government Technology interview at the conference.
AI makes new tools available to workers at all levels, he said.
He rejected the idea that the rise of AI would lead to automation requiring no human intervention. He favored the thesis according to which artificial intelligence would rather lead to “increase”, AI looking more like a colleague than a zero-sum competitor.
Of course, this is not to say that the impact of AI will be minimal.
“Organizations will be impacted,” Orgeron said, adding that “reorganization of teams” is almost a certainty as “AI becomes that teammate and augmentation.”
As Orgeron continues to lead Mississippi’s technology efforts, the state and legislature have come together to encourage AI innovation through an executive order and action of the legislator.
Not only that, but students at state universities and colleges are participating in what Orgeron called a “sandbox” to produce “proofs of value and proofs of concept” around AI — work that promises not only to educate those students, but also to lead to ideas about bringing more AI to state government.
