“The ability of machines to make predictions, recommendations, or decisions normally done by people.”

That’s the definition of artificial intelligence (AI) used in the “action plan” issued Wednesday by a state task force charged with examining the now-omnipresent technology that continues to reshape the surface of all things digital — and many things physical.

“AI is one of the most transformative technologies that we will all experience in our lifetime, and Rhode Island is being proactive,” Chris Parisi, president of Trailblaze Marketing and the task force’s vice chair, said during a media briefing Wednesday at Rhode Island College (RIC).

“We need all Rhode Islanders, all business leaders, every elected official, to really take this seriously,” Parisi said. “Again, this is the most important thing that we’re doing right now. Believe me, the most transformative technology is going to affect how we work, how we live, how we learn.”

The Governor’s AI Task Force was formed by an executive order in February 2024 and first met in July that year, beginning its mission of molding recommendations and policy suggestions for responsible and wise use of AI. Since the task force’s inception, generative AI has become properly unignorable, from the banality of viral videos featuring irate foods to the seriousness of spoofed evidence in court and concerns about the technology’s requisite data centers eating up natural resources. 

In December 2024, the task force broke up into six “fact-finding teams” that looked at major areas of concern spanning government, education, health care, finance, small businesses, and manufacturing and defense. The task force wondered: How can Rhode Island stay competitive in this increasingly crowded field?

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