Gov. Josh Shapiro this week joined leaders from OpenAI, Carnegie Mellon University and Pennsylvania’s labor community to unveil the results of the Commonwealth’s first-in-the-nation Generative AI Pilot Program.
The findings revealed that employees had a highly positive experience, reporting an average time savings of 95 minutes per day while using ChatGPT for writing, research, summarization and IT support.
The pilot underscored the importance of human oversight, demonstrated AI’s potential to streamline government operations and showed that Commonwealth employees across various roles, ages, and demographics benefited from the tool. Employees across multiple roles — including human resources, information technology, policy, and program management — benefited from the tool, helping them work more efficiently and focus on more complex, high-value tasks.
“Pennsylvania is leading the way in responsibly integrating AI into government by giving Commonwealth employees access to tools that enhance efficiency while ensuring people remain at the center of decision-making,” Shapiro said. “This pilot program showed that when used thoughtfully, generative AI can help employees save time, streamline processes, and improve services for Pennsylvanians. But let me be clear — AI will never replace our workers. Instead, we’re equipping them with the best tools to do what they do best: get stuff done for Pennsylvanians.”
A first-in-the-nation AI Pilot Program
In January 2024, Pennsylvania launched its first-in-the-nation pilot program in partnership with OpenAI to explore how generative AI could enhance productivity across state government.
Over the course of a year, 175 employees from 14 agencies used ChatGPT Enterprise to test AI’s impact.
The results of the pilot, collected through biweekly feedback sessions, user interviews and live demonstrations, showed significant benefits:
—Time Savings: Employees reported saving an average of 95 minutes per day on administrative tasks, such as drafting emails, summarizing lengthy documents, and navigating complex bureaucratic processes.
—Enhanced Efficiency: AI-assisted work helped employees improve hiring timelines, streamline procurement, more quickly analyze contracts, and research new policies faster.
—Human Oversight Remains Essential: Employees emphasized that AI augments human expertise rather than replacing it, reinforcing the importance of human review and judgment.
—Training and Adoption: Early challenges — including a learning curve and workflow adjustments — highlighted the need for robust training to help employees successfully integrate generative AI tools into their daily work. While targeted training and implementation strategies helped address some barriers, ongoing support and adaptation remain essential for maximizing AI’s effectiveness in government operations.
AG Sunday joins bipartisan coalition standing up for veterans who were denied education benefits
Attorney General Dave Sunday this week joined 52 other Attorneys General in filing an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in support of two military veterans who were unlawfully denied their full G.I. Bill education benefits by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Virginia.
According to the brief, U.S. Army veteran Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yoon and U.S. Air Force veteran Colonel Toby Doran, and their families, were denied crucial education benefits to which they are clearly entitled via the G.I. Bill. The amicus brief argues the Virginia VA is using an erroneous interpretation of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to limit education benefits.
“This bipartisan coalition of every state Attorney General in the country is a proclamation that veterans will not be cheated out of what they are owed,” Sunday said. “As a proud veteran myself, my service and the benefits I received under the G.I. Bill enabled me to pursue an education, find a satisfying career, and provide for my family. The least we can do for veterans who sacrifice so much is make sure they receive that same access to education.”
The brief argues that the Virginia VA’s interpretation of the G.I. Bills contradicts the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Rudisill v. McDonough, which confirmed that veterans who qualify under both the Montgomery and Post-9/11 G.I. Bills are entitled to a full 48 months of education benefits. Despite clear precedent, the Virginia VA has continued to deprive veterans and their families of critical educational opportunities.
Department of Aging to improve accountability, increase transparency
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging this week announced the roll-out of the agency’s new Comprehensive Agency Performance Evaluation — or CAPE — an innovative tool designed to boost transparency and accountability of Pennsylvania’s Area Agency on Aging (AAA) network that provides a host of services to older adults.
In April, the Department will begin publicly posting performance results on its website for the first batch of AAAs to be monitored under CAPE, with more AAA performance results regularly added.
After nearly two years of work, the public will be able to see for the first time how well their local AAA is performing in major program areas, such as investigative activities related to suspected elder abuse and helping older adults at home with tasks of daily living.
“Since arriving at the Department of Aging 25 months ago, one of the Shapiro Administration’s top priorities has been to modernize how we oversee AAA performance at the local level and make those results easily available to the public,” said Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich. “The completion of CAPE — the first major overhaul and upgrade of the department’s monitoring system in decades — is a huge achievement and monumental leap forward for this agency. We are transforming our ability to evaluate and improve services for older Pennsylvanians.”
Implemented with an initial group of four AAAs in January 2025 following a 2024 pilot program, CAPE transforms the Department’s prior monitoring approach into a more holistic philosophy, where each of the 52 AAAs is evaluated for different performance metrics during a singular monitoring review.
Performance evaluations will include things like:
—Older Adult Protective Services (documentation requirements, data management, administrative oversight, risk mitigation and safety, and investigative activities).
—OPTIONS (help at home) and the Caregiver Support Program (documentation requirements, data management, administrative oversight, care management, program eligibility, and policy and fiscal operations).
The Pennsylvania Department of Aging works with a network of 52 AAAs to deliver services to older adults that help them stay healthy, safe and able to continue thriving in their homes of choice as they age.
The Department disburses millions of dollars annually to AAAs to fund these services, and one of the Department’s most important responsibilities is to monitor the performance of each AAA to make sure they are meeting performance standards. However, the Department’s system for doing so has previously been fragmented, inconsistently scheduled, and did not focus on objective measures.
Under the new system, the Department will continue to monitor AAA data and performance monthly — in addition, each AAA will be comprehensively monitored on a consistent schedule, with regular communications in-between those monitorings to discuss the outcomes, ensure that they are taking steps toward any needed performance improvement and provide additional training and technical assistance as needed.
