Illinois hires its first chief AI officer

Kader Sakkaria joined the Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology as its first chief artificial intelligence officer on June 1, the agency announced this week.

A longtime technologist, Sakkaria most recently served as head of global data technology at Arthur J. Gallagher. Prior to that, he held leadership roles at Ruffalo Noel Levitz and BMO Harris Bank, and served as an innovation and technology commissioner for the City of Aurora in Illinois.

As Illinois’ chief AI officer, Sakkaria will lead its enterprise AI strategy and support the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence across the state’s government.

“Sakkaria brings extensive experience in artificial intelligence, data strategy, and enterprise technology transformation,” Jennifer Jennings, a spokesperson for the department, told StateScoop in an email.

The state began actively recruiting for the role in December to lead its then newly established Office of the CAIO and guide state AI strategy, governance and ethical deployment.

During the monthslong recruitment period, Illinois CIO Brandon Ragle said the state’s DoIT was looking for a “statistical-minded person that understands governance and use cases and is passionate about government services.” He added that the CAIO would work with the state’s chief data officer and chief enterprise architect to form a “triangle of AI governance policy.” 

“So the chief data officer is out there working and the chief architect, from the technology landscape, is making sure we keep our arms around the massive continual opportunity for sprawl with all the different AI tools that are coming in every day, so put those three together in a group under a deputy secretary to kind of lead that,” Ragle explained in an interview last month.

The state released its statewide AI policy last April and rolled out a new chatbot tool to 55,000 users in October.

“Curiosity creates innovation, and innovation is what you need to really drive the value, honestly, of AI to that mindset, so why not put [AI] in front of the fingertips of folks at least a little bit to give a taste, right, get them hungry,” Ragle said, adding that the state’s CAIO would be responsible for scaling up the chatbot project.

“They own that relationship, they own that drive, they make sure governance is in place, they’re double-checking everything to make sure it has privacy, security, and that everything has been reviewed,” Ragle said.

Illinois joins several states that have appointed chief AI officers in recent years to guide the adoption of these emerging tools, including Vermont, Texas, New York, Montana, Oklahoma and Alabama.