Code for America

States are at varying stages of AI adoption—it’s not a single procurement decision or a one-time technology upgrade. It’s an institutional journey across agencies and departments. Most states are still early in this journey. Some are building governance frameworks. Others are piloting generative AI tools. A few are beginning to scale implementation. Very few have fully embedded AI into core operations with robust measurement and continuous improvement. The AI journey can be understood as a progression across four stages: