The GovAI Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Tracy Gaynor & Sean Totten – What Happens When Government Stops Saying No to AI? Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Tracy Gaynor, Director of Information Technology, and Sean Totten, Chief Security Officer for the City of Fishers, Indiana.

Fishers took a deliberate approach to AI adoption: instead of trying to shut down AI use, the city focused on understanding what employees were already using, putting governance around it, and giving staff a safe path to experiment. That approach has helped AI move from isolated experimentation into real use across the organization.

They explore how Fishers balances innovation and security, why visibility into AI use became the starting point for governance, and what the city learned when it discovered AI embedded across far more tools than expected. Tracy and Sean also share how training, approved tools, policies, and guardrails have helped the city enable employees without creating unnecessary risk.

The conversation also looks ahead to agentic AI, data readiness, and how AI is changing the role of government IT from a department known for saying “no” into a partner that can help departments solve problems faster.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E8 – Jerry Gabrielatos – Can AI Make Government More Human? Jul 19, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Jerry Gabrielatos, former City Manager of Beloit, Wisconsin, and a longtime local government leader known for meeting residents where they are—from farmers markets to neighborhood barbershops.

Jerry shares why he believes AI isn't replacing the human side of government; it's creating more opportunities for it. By automating administrative work, agencies can spend more time engaging residents, building trust, and focusing on the work that matters most.

They explore how AI can help address workforce shortages, improve community engagement, reduce reliance on consultants, and empower employees to focus on higher-value work. The conversation also dives into the future of government jobs, why many agencies are still underusing AI, and what leaders should do today to prepare for what's next.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E7 - Nadia Hansen - What Government Gets Wrong About Buying AI Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Nadia Hansen, Global AI Go-to-Market Leader and Industry Advisor for Public Sector at Salesforce and someone with the rare distinction of having sat on both sides of the table.

Before joining Salesforce, Nadia served as CIO for Clark County, Nevada, where she led digital transformation for 2.3 million residents, managed a $100M+ technology budget, and oversaw 200 staff across 140 locations. Four years ago she made what she calls a counterintuitive move, leaving senior public sector leadership to advise sales, product, and marketing teams on AI go-to-market strategy for state and local government.

They explore why so many AI pilots get stuck in "purgatory," why undefined KPIs and unbaselined processes are the real culprits, and why agencies that ban AI only create more risk through shadow usage. Nadia shares what vendors consistently get wrong when selling to government, why outcomes matter more than products, and how to think about governance, data, and trust as agentic systems emerge.

The conversation also digs into the future of software in the age of AI, from vibe coding and faster MVPs to whether vertical solutions survive, and the human skills, like writing and creative thinking, that Nadia believes will matter most.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E6 - Anh Selissen - Inside the Agency Running 200 AI Use Cases at Once May 28, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Anh Selissen, Chief Information Officer for the Texas Department of Transportation and a disruptive innovator running one of the largest, most complex public sector technology operations in the country.

With over two decades across the public and private sectors, Anh brings a rare combination of operational discipline and clarity to a 13,500-person, statewide agency. She walks through why TxDOT rewrote its AI strategy just one year after publishing it, why it was authored entirely in-house, and how the agency is operationalizing agentic AI through strong governance, ROI tracking, and human-in-the-loop accountability.

They explore the data foundation behind it all, including consolidating 97+ data solutions into a single enterprise data platform, and how TxDOT uses a readiness scorecard to prioritize 200+ AI use cases without falling into pilot purgatory. Anh also shares how the agency's AI Academy and network of nearly 200 "AI champions" is pushing adoption into the business while keeping security and risk in healthy balance.

Looking ahead, they dig into multi-agent orchestration for operational monitoring, the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA), and how AI could fundamentally transform how roads get built.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E5 - Andrew Ngui - How Should Government Actually Adopt AI? May 07, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Andrew Ngui, Chief Digital Officer for the City of Kansas City and a leader at the intersection of digital innovation, data, and responsible AI adoption.

Andrew brings a systems-level perspective on how government should approach AI, not just as a technology shift, but as an organizational and leadership challenge. From introducing the concept of “minimally invasive innovation” to rethinking workflows entirely, he shares how agencies can adopt AI without disrupting the core of how they operate.

They explore how to identify the right use cases, why solving real “painkiller” problems matters more than deploying AI for the sake of it, and how cities should think about governance, procurement, and vendor engagement in a rapidly evolving landscape.

The conversation also dives into workforce transformation, internal AI adoption, and what it means to redesign work in the age of AI, moving beyond simple automation to true operational change.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E4 - Micah Gaudet - How AI Is Actually Used Inside Local Government Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Micah Gaudet, Deputy Chief Manager and Chief Public Safety Officer for the City of Maricopa, Arizona and a leading voice on practical AI adoption inside government.

Micah brings a hands-on perspective from inside city operations, where AI is no longer experimental, it’s embedded into day-to-day work. From using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to inform decisions in real time, he shares what it actually looks like to integrate AI into leadership, workflows, and service delivery.

They explore how agencies should approach experimentation, how to evaluate new tools, and why banning AI often leads to more risk through shadow usage. The conversation also dives into governance, trust, and what it takes to scale AI responsibly across an organization.

They also look ahead to what’s next, from agentic systems to citizen-driven AI, and how expectations for government are already shifting as residents begin interacting with public services through AI.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E3 - Amit Elazari - Who Actually Shapes AI Policy? Apr 12, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital is joined by Dr. Amit Elazari, Co-Founder and CEO of Open Policy and a leading voice at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, and global policy.

Amit brings a unique perspective from both inside government affairs and as a founder building tools to scale policy access. From her experience shaping cybersecurity policy at Intel to launching Open Policy, she breaks down why policy has historically been limited to a small group of experts and why that’s now changing.

They explore how policy directly impacts go-to-market, product strategy, and revenue, why most companies underestimate its role, and how AI is enabling a broader set of organizations to engage in shaping policy rather than just reacting to it.

The conversation also dives into the evolving global landscape, from EU regulation to U.S. state-level fragmentation, and what it means for companies and governments trying to navigate a rapidly shifting environment.

They also look ahead to the future of “policy as code,” where governance becomes more scalable, automated, and embedded directly into how organizations operate.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E2 - Benjamin Palacio - The Real Impact of AI on Government Jobs Mar 26, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI Podcast, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler are joined by Benjamin Palacio, Senior IT Analyst for Placer County, California and a longtime practitioner on the frontlines of government AI.

Ben has been building AI solutions since 2018, well before the current wave of generative AI, and brings a rare, hands-on perspective on how AI has evolved inside government over the past several years.

They explore what’s actually changing (and what isn’t), from early rule-based chatbots to today’s real-time, dynamic AI systems and what that means for agencies trying to move from experimentation to real deployment.

The conversation dives into how AI is being applied today, including chatbots, automation, and citizen-facing tools, as well as the operational realities of adoption: procurement challenges, data governance, validation, and the risks of vendor lock-in.

They also tackle one of the biggest questions in government today: Will AI replace workers or fundamentally change how work gets done?

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

S2E1 - Is AI Moving Faster than Government? Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

Season 2 of the GovAI Podcast is here.

AI is evolving faster than government policy, procurement, and regulation can keep up and that gap is creating both massive opportunity and real risk.

In this kickoff episode, Noam Maital and Dustin Haisler break down what’s happening right now across the AI landscape: from federal and state regulation battles to the race between frontier models like OpenAI, Gemini, and Copilot. They also explore what agencies actually need to be doing today to prepare for the next wave of AI adoption.

From shadow AI inside agencies to agentic systems and citizen-facing AI, this conversation looks ahead to where government AI is heading in 2026 and beyond.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

Denise Reilly-Hughes on Navigating Technology in Government Sep 21, 2025

Show notes

In this episode of the GovAI podcast, Denise Reilly-Hughes, Vermont's Chief Information Officer, discusses her transition from the private sector to government, emphasizing the importance of a human-centric approach to technology. She highlights the need for a code of ethics in AI, the value of embracing failure in innovation, and the challenges of managing public records in the age of AI. The conversation also touches on successful use cases of AI in government, particularly in response to flooding, and the importance of building effective partnerships with vendors.

This podcast is brought to you by Darwin AI, a platform built for state and local government to help agencies adopt and manage AI responsibly.

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