Maryland names former federal AI leader as state’s responsible AI senior advisor

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced Wednesday that Michael Boyce, a former federal technologist who oversaw the adoption of artificial intelligence at key agencies, will join the state as its new senior advisor for responsible AI.

In the role, Boyce will serve as an advisor to Moore and Katie Savage, the state’s chief information officer and secretary of the Department of Information Technology. He will also advise the state’s AI Subcabinet and work closely with leaders across state government, the legislature, academia, civil society and the private sector to help deliver on the governor’s goals of using AI to drive economic development, empower the Maryland workforce and enhance the state’s services.

Boyce comes to Maryland from the U.S. Digital Response, where he has served as an AI lead and generative AI technologist-in-residence since last June. At the pro-bono tech nonprofit, Boyce led the organization’s AI portfolio program, helping to launch over a dozen projects across 40 state and local government partnerships to improve language access, make benefits more accessible and accelerate permit processes.

Before his time at the USDR, Boyce founded and led the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s AI Corps, a team of 50 senior experts delivering AI across 22 offices and 10 federal agencies that supported bolstering the AI workforce and providing guidance to agency leaders on the tech. Prior to that, Boyce worked in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, where he helped write policy on the government’s use of generative AI, including President Joe Biden’s 2023 AI Executive Order.

He takes over the Maryland AI advisor role from Nishant Shah, a former product leader for responsible artificial intelligence at Meta who had been in the role since August 2023 but departed in January.

Maryland has taken a number of actions under Moore’s leadership to capitalize on AI in government operations. These include the Governor’s Modernization Initiative that kicked off in January 2025 and followed Maryland’s 2024 Responsible AI Policy for governing AI systems used by the state. The state also announced a partnership with Anthropic late last year to use the company’s AI tools to reduce child poverty, improve housing access and streamline processes.

And at the end of last month, Moore announced the launch of an AI Innovation Lab, which aims to equip state agencies with the tools to adopt and experiment with the emerging technology across their operations.

“I am thrilled to be joining the State of Maryland at this critical moment,” Boyce said in a statement. “Under the great work of my predecessor — Nishant Shah — and so many colleagues and partners, Maryland has built an incredible foundation to deploy and leverage AI both responsibly and at scale. I’m excited to build on that momentum to bring meaningful improvements to Maryland’s services and empower its State workforce, while protecting Marylanders’ rights and privacy.”