Maine Bans Artificial Intelligence Use by State Agencies for 6 Months Due to 'Cybersecurity Risks' - The Maine Wire

A new policy directive from Maine Information Technology (MaineIT) has put a six-month moratorium on the adoption and use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology within all State of Maine agencies due to “significant” cybersecurity risks.

The prohibition on AI will include large language models that generate text such as ChatGPT, as well as software that generates images, music, computer code, voice simulation, and art.

It’s unclear whether and to what extent state employees have been relying on emerging AI tools as part of their jobs. Maine may be the first state in the U.S. to impose such a moratorium.

According to an email to sent on Wednesday to all Executive Branch agencies and employees from Maine’s Acting Chief Information Officer Nick Marquis, MaineIT issued a “cybersecurity directive” prohibiting the use of AI for all state business and on all devices connected to the state’s network for six months, effective immediately.