After his first successes in driving generative AI use case for the rest of the state, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is doubling down and charting an expanded path for more strategic adoption.
Marcie Kahbody, who serves as both the California State Transportation Agency’s (CalSTA) Deputy Secretary for Technology and Caltrans’ CIO, shared GenAI’s progress and plans, highlighting the significant efforts needed to pivot an agency of Caltrans’ size toward new technologies.
The CIO said early introductions to the changing technology highlighted the need for a holistic approach to the department’s enormous stores of data, likening it to jumping into the ocean with almost no idea how to swim. She advocated for the creation of a leadership position, Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer (CDAO), which until recently was Dara Wheeler.
“I felt like we needed a strong organization around generative AI, and I needed someone as a leader, someone who would be dedicated to developing policy, establishing good governance, bringing districts together and creating some cohesion,” Kahbody said.
The result was the launch of the department’s data and AI program, which included getting feedback and buy-in from different divisions. Kahbody acknowledged that the early days of this process included quite a bit of pushback and reluctance, but she said the proof-of-concept projects and constant engagement helped show the value.
The CIO said that once executives and their staff began to see the real-world output potential, they began to embrace the technology, even suggesting other use cases and areas for increased efficiency.
The work carried out in the department is not only theoretical or fundamental. On Monday alone, training and access to Microsoft Copilot was made available to 18,000 of Caltrans’ 23,000 employees, expanding the initial pilot by just 100 licenses, Kahbody said.
“We did a survey at the end of the POC, and people were saving about two and a half hours per week using Copilot, which shows the value,” the CIO said.
New projects are also in preparation. CalSTA Secretary Toks Omishakin has requested that a new GIS data center be created to streamline access to data for siled departments across agencies under the CalSTA umbrella.
This list includes the Departments of Motor Vehicles and Transportation, as well as the California Highway Patrol, the High-Speed Rail Authority, the California Transportation Commission, the Office of Traffic Safety, the New Motor Vehicle Board, and the Board of Pilot Commissioners.
This work on the data center is being led by business representatives from each department with the hope of completing it by the time the curtain closes on the Newsom administration later this year. The first workshops around this project identified the safety of work areas as a priority for this data center.
Additionally, Kahbody said a chatbot is also in the works to help Caltrans employees navigate the hundreds of internal websites they must access daily.
“Caltrans has hundreds of internal website pages, and if you want to search for something, it’s very difficult,” she said.
Kahbody was quick to point out that the work being done in this area is not done in a vacuum, emphasizing that none of this would be possible without the input and assistance of industry partners. Assuming the solutions meet a real need, CIO said it wants to hear the private sector’s perspective and possible demonstrations.
“What can this tool do for us? What problem will it solve for us?” she said.
This story first appeared in Industry Insider — Californiawhich is part of e.Republic, Government Technology parent company.
