Nine humans have been named as members of the Utah Pro-Human Artificial Intelligence Task Force.
The Utah Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity announced the membership of the task force, which aims to ensure Utah leads the nation in responsible, pro-human AI development. The department includes the Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy, which is dedicated to fostering a safe and innovative AI landscape in Utah.
The task force members are:
• Co-Chairs Margaret Busse and Jefferson Moss. Busse is executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce. Moss is executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. Combined, they have experience in strategy, innovation, education, and state-level policy and administration.
• Kirk Cullimore, Utah Senate majority leader and a legislator who has focused on government accountability and helped shape business-friendly policy.
• Marvin Dodge, executive director of the Utah Department of Government Operations who is a veteran of state finance and operations, specializing in technology services HR.
• Molly Hart, state superintendent of the Utah State Board of Education, a career educator and advocate for student achievement and community engagement.
• Geoff Landward, commissioner at the Utah System of Higher Education and an expert in administrative and education law with more than 20 years of legal experience.
• Lesi Pasi, co-founder of Lucidity Sciences, a mathematician and machine learning innovator specializing in developing machine learning and AI solutions.
• Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University and a national leader in technology-based education and workforce development.
• David Wingate, associate professor at Brigham Young University and a machine learning scientist whose research focuses on the intersection of large language models and social science.
“Utah is leading out because we know that AI technology must remain human-guided, and if we don’t help create that paradigm, it won’t happen,” said Gov. Spencer Cox. “By bringing together our best minds across government, industry, and academia, we are ensuring that Utahns aren’t just passive observers and users of AI, but architects of a future that protects dignity and empowers our workforce.”
The Pro-Human AI initiative bridges economic growth and public protection through a unified approach anchored in two core values. One is that AI must be human-guided, with systems that protect dignity, preserve human agency, and ensure individuals stay in control of the tools that shape their work and their lives. The other is that AI must be human-enhancing by expanding people’s capabilities, not diminishing them; by opening new opportunities, not closing them; and by empowering workers with better tools, strengthening communities through accessible innovation, and enabling problem-solving at unprecedented scale.
“We cannot afford to wait for the future to happen to us,” Busse said. “These values push us to be proactive; protecting our children and ensuring transparency in AI interactions while providing the regulatory clarity that businesses need to thrive.”
The initiative has been divided into six pillars: academic research and development, industry innovation, learning and education, public protection, state government deployment, and workforce empowerment.
“Our goal is to foster an ecosystem where innovation and accountability thrive in tandem,” said Moss, who also is CEO of the Nucleus Institute. “To lead the nation on AI and in solving human problems, we must be proactive: equipping students for an AI-powered future, moving concepts from the lab to the marketplace, and inviting the world’s best innovators to build here in Utah.”
Legislation in 2024 created the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy and the idea of an AI task force congealed at a December AI Summit in Salt Lake City. At the summit, Cox proposed huge growth in the number of AI companies in the future, rather than having AI controlled by a small handful of companies. Cox said thousands would be needed, while Matthew Prince, co-founder, executive chairman and chief executive officer of Cloudflare, pegged the number at 500,000.
Cox said at the time that he wanted AI to avoid the model of social media, in which only a few companies are in control. He said they have “been basically strip-mining our souls, and, even worse, they’ve been employing our children in their effort to strip-mine our souls. It’s not a pretty picture.” Those companies, he said, acted “under the guise of doing good for humankind” and it has taken a decade for people to discover the harm they are doing to society.