The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) launched a statewide artificial intelligence (AI) platform designed to help state agencies improve efficiency, strengthen customer service, and deliver a better government experience.
The platform, called BEACON, provides shared security, governance, and data standards intended to move state agencies beyond isolated pilot projects and toward enterprise-scale AI deployments, according to a OMES press release.
Oklahoma officials said the common framework will reduce duplicate development across agencies while allowing them to build applications for specific operational needs.
“Oklahoma is committed to being a top ten state for business, and that means using the best tools available,” Gov. Kevin Stitt said. “We are equipping our agencies to work smarter, deliver results faster and serve Oklahomans more effectively.”
BEACON’s first two applications, which Oklahoma calls “lighthouse applications,” are undergoing beta testing. One tool assists policymakers and state employees with reviewing administrative rules and identifying regulations that could be simplified. The other provides state employees with real-time guidance on purchasing policies and procedures.
The Administrative Rules Modernization tool is intended to organize information for legislative and agency review rather than make policy decisions.
The Procurement Guidance Assistant is designed to help employees find purchasing requirements more quickly and apply those requirements consistently across agencies.
The broader BEACON platform supports four types of agency applications: research tools that generate source-backed answers from state laws and policies; analytics tools that identify patterns and risks in operational data; decision-support systems that flag records for human review; and service assistants connected to agency workflows.
The platform uses a preapproved architecture with built-in accessibility, security, audit, and governance capabilities, according to the state’s BEACON webpage. It is also designed to integrate with existing state systems and allow agencies to reuse software components developed for earlier projects.
Oklahoma said future lighthouse applications will focus on modernizing public services, supporting the state workforce, and establishing reusable models for additional agencies.
