Shreya Amin, a data and AI scientist with 17 years of professional experience, will help the state’s Office of Information Technology Services, or ITS, design and carry out the state’s artificial intelligence goals, according to a statement.
The position is new, an ITS spokesperson told Government Technology.
Before accepting this job, Amin founded a data science and AI consulting firm and was chief data and AI scientist for Wellist, a health-care technology company. She has worked with tech startups, too. She holds a master’s degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Chicago, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“I'm committed to leveraging AI to enhance services, facilitate operations and drive data-informed decisions, ensuring ethical guardrails, equity and transparency,” Amin said in the statement. “Collaborating across agencies and with our communities, we will create meaningful improvements in the lives of our residents while positioning New York as a leader in government AI."
The state hopes to boost its powers in AI via new hiring for ITS, just one of the AI-friendly activities taking place in the Empire State as the wider implications of the technology come into focus.
Meanwhile, the state is backing its Empire AI initiative, a public-private partnership for an AI computing center in Buffalo. ITS also recently crafted the state’s first policy on acceptable use of artificial intelligence, an indication of how deeply the tech is moving into governmental activities.
Amin will lead the agency’s push to refine its AI guidance, among many other tasks.
One of New York’s neighbors already has set an example for such AI oversight. Just more than a year ago New Jersey appointed Beth Noveck — among the most high-profile experts on public-sector use of AI — as the state’s first-ever chief AI strategist.
As Amin starts her job, other governments also are considering hiring their own experts to manage AI — even relatively small public agencies are thinking about doing so, further reinforcing the increasing importance of the technology in public life.
