Cole County developing guidelines for employee use of artificial intelligence

Cole County is working on new guidelines for how employees can use artificial intelligence, particularly when it comes to protecting sensitive county information and ensuring AI-generated information is accurate.

Cole County Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman told ABC 17 the county is still in the “premature stages” of developing guidelines for AI use.

Information Systems Director Brian Ridenhour presented the commission with a rough draft last week outlining several principles for the county to consider, including transparency, explainability, accountability and human oversight.

The goal is to establish clear expectations for employees as AI technology continues to develop.

Ridenhour said he has not seen a problem with the county's current use of AI, but he wants to put guidelines in place before potential issues arise.

One area of concern is what information employees enter into AI systems.

“It’s our responsibility as county employees and elected officials that we use that properly and that we don’t put anything within an OpenAI model that could be used for private information,” Ridenhour said.

AI can be useful for everyday tasks, such as formatting emails and memos. But Ridenhour said employees need to be more cautious when using county data, particularly with publicly available AI systems such as Google Gemini.

Employees should not enter proprietary or sensitive county information into those systems.

“We don't want to put HIPAA-related information in there or PII.”

Protecting information is not the only issue the county is considering. Officials also want employees to understand that AI-generated responses may not always be accurate.

“You might be able to drop something into there, and it gives you some results. But if you don't vet those results, then that could be inaccurate.”

According to Ridenhour, the next step is to create a committee made up of county staff members to help oversee how the technology is used.

“The makeup of it is different departments, and one individual from each department that represents them. That way, we have a better-rounded idea of how it's going to influence the overall county.”

Ridenhour also pointed to AI disclosures used by social media platforms as an example of how the county could identify AI-generated content.

He said he would like the county to consider a similar disclaimer when AI is used to create content released by the county.

The county is also transitioning toward using Microsoft Copilot through Microsoft 365. Ridenhour said the county is still working through the licensing process.

County officials have not announced a timeline for when the new AI guidelines will be finalized.