Key Takeaways
- North Carolina’s AI Strategic Roadmap sets an ambitious vision for responsible AI, workforce readiness, and government modernization, but it largely overlooks the role of AI creators in teaching society how to use the technology.
- California’s partnership with Anthropic illustrates a shift from merely purchasing software to buying capability—bundling training, technical assistance, and implementation support with AI access.
- Unlike traditional enterprise software, AI functions as infrastructure that reshapes work, decision‑making, and organizational structure, demanding broader societal expectations similar to roads or utilities.
- Responsibility for safe technology adoption varies across sectors: government leads for transportation, private industry shoulders much of the burden in healthcare, and consumer products place the onus on the user.
- Small and rural governments often lack the expertise and resources to harness AI effectively, creating a looming “competency divide” that could exacerbate existing inequities if not addressed.
- Treating AI providers as partners in workforce development—offering coaching, ethics training, governance templates, and continual education—could become a competitive advantage and a necessary component of AI infrastructure.
- Government retains essential roles in setting standards, procurement policy, and accountability, but industry must share responsibility for building an AI‑literate public sector.
- The future impact of AI will depend less on model benchmarks and more on the capability of the people who use it; teaching safe, effective AI use should be considered part of the infrastructure itself.
North Carolina’s AI Strategic Roadmap Sets a Broad Vision
On June 30, the North Carolina Department of Information Technology released a statewide AI Strategic Roadmap crafted by the NC AI Leadership Council, which the governor’s office convened. The document outlines an ambitious agenda covering responsible AI, workforce preparedness, government modernization, education, privacy, and public trust. It reflects a growing recognition that AI is no longer a purely technical issue but also an economic‑development, workforce, and civic concern. While the roadmap identifies many worthy goals, it spends relatively little attention on the organizations that actually build the AI systems being deployed.
The Missing Piece: Who Teaches Society to Use AI?
Reading the roadmap, the author found himself more intrigued by what was absent than what was present. The plan details what state agencies, schools, employers, and communities should do to ready themselves for an AI‑enabled future, yet says little about the technology creators’ role in educating users. This omission raises a broader question that extends beyond North Carolina: who bears responsibility for teaching society how to use artificial intelligence effectively and responsibly?
California’s Partnership Shows a New Model
Just a day before the NC roadmap was published, California announced a statewide partnership with Anthropic, the firm behind the Claude language model. The agreement is notable not because California chose one AI vendor over another, but because it reportedly goes beyond discounted licenses to include training, technical assistance, and implementation support for public employees. In essence, California did not merely buy software; it bought capability—bundling the tools with the know‑how needed to put them to work.
From Product to Capability: A Fundamental Shift
Traditionally, software has been treated as a product: a company builds an application, sells a license, perhaps offers documentation or basic support, and leaves successful adoption to the customer. If the adoption of advanced technologies like AI, we must rethink who shoulders the responsibility for teaching society how to use them. The answer will shape whether AI becomes a force for inclusive prosperity or a source of deeper divides.