| MOST POPULAR Where Have All the CIOs Gone? Nothing adds heft to a tech company’s public sector arm than a cadre of experts with direct experience in government. GT’s biz beat noted an uptick in former chief information officers – one local CIO and four state CIOs – heading to Microsoft in recent months. See who joined the ranks in our story. Amazon Web Services has similarly bulked up its former CIO staff list too, as we reported last August. Gov Tech Giants Announce Accelerator, AI Platform And speaking of Amazon, the company – about to be under new leadership following the announcement of Bezos’ impending departure – recently unveiled a new accelerator for gov tech startups. Similar to its existing EdStart program aimed at education technology startups, GovTechStart will support companies getting started in the space with resources and AWS cloud infrastructure. In other biz news, Deloitte has a new platform for AI. Called CortexAI for Government, it includes a suite of new tools to help governments take advantage of artificial intelligence to make them more efficient and cost-effective. Broadband, Telehealth and Digital Service Upgrades Rank for States Do governors have tech plans on their agenda? See for yourself. So far, 34 state of the state addresses have been given, and GT writers and editors have combed through them in search of tech plans. Some of the states with ambitious digital to-do lists may surprise you. Reining In Facial Rec A new bill in Utah may prove influential to other states as policymakers look to establish rules on how law enforcement agencies should (and shouldn’t) use facial recognition technology. In addition to limiting the cases in which agencies can consult an image database for facial comparison, the proposed legislation includes a criminal penalty for misuse. | 