- June 15, 2026
- By Gina Driscoll
A new Artificial Intelligence Incubation Lab will connect state agencies with university expertise to test ideas, evaluate risks and explore practical applications for the state’s use of AI, following the passage of legislation shaped in part by University of Maryland School of Public Policy faculty.
Gov. Wes Moore last month signed the bill to create the facility, which will include a controlled sandbox environment for secure testing and ready-to-use software packages to help government agencies rapidly build and prototype AI solutions.
The state and University System of Maryland will identify a home for the facility and provide the resources needed to support its launch.
Research Professor Charles Harry, director of UMD’s Center for Governance of Technology and Systems (GoTech), said he and colleagues worked with bill sponsor Sen. Katie Fry Hester's office and the governor's AI advisor to identify ways for the state to collaborate effectively with the university to identify how AI could be employed to achieve greater impacts while also looking for challenges to security and privacy.
Harry said one of the biggest challenges facing organizations today is determining where AI can provide meaningful value while accounting for potential costs and risks. "I see the lab as a means by which the state can 'fast-fail' ideas before a large amount of effort and resources are expended," he said.
For Harry, the work reflects a broader question facing governments, universities and organizations as AI adoption accelerates. "This effort directly confronts a central challenge we are finding with the use of AI," he said. "How do we use it to solve problems? That is inherently a socio-technical problem."
The lab is part of a larger initiative established through the bill that also includes the Maryland Artificial Intelligence Partnership and the Artificial Intelligence Public Services Fellowship, both housed within the University System of Maryland.