Most US state CIOs expect more turbulence, and agentic AI is the technology they watch
NASCIO's 17th annual survey finds AI policies nearly universal at 98 per cent, but 45 per cent of states have no dedicated funding for citizen digital services.
Sixty-eight per cent of US state chief information officers expect more turbulence and disruption in their role over the next five years, according to the 2026 State CIO Survey from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, StateScoop reported. The 17th edition, released at NASCIO's conference in San Diego, covers 51 state and territory CIOs.
"We're being asked to do more outside of traditional IT, with the role expanding," said Tony Sauerhoff, the Texas CIO. He no longer likes the word modernisation: "It no longer means upgrading technology, upgrading hardware and software. It means changing how we run our business."
Funding is the gap
CIOs named budget uncertainty, fragmented and one-time funding, and demand outpacing resources as constraints. Only 55 per cent said they have dedicated funding to advance citizen digital services; 45 per cent do not. Hawaii's CIO, Christine Sakuda, said the state has "a ton of funding, but I think not enough" and is planning to realign portal services "so that they have a unified experience across all of government services".
AI rules in place
Ninety-eight per cent of CIOs now have enterprise AI policies, up from 76 per cent last year, and procurement terms for generative AI rose from 41 to 61 per cent. Sixty-four per cent named agentic AI as the most impactful emerging technology for the next two to three years, against 14 per cent for generative AI. Current agentic work is mostly internal: workflow automation, IT operations, application development and customer service.
On infrastructure, 43 per cent are downsizing or "right-sizing" state data centres this year and 73 per cent plan to expand public cloud use.
The numbers show a familiar pattern: governance arrives faster than money. Policies cost little to write; the shared platforms that make services feel like one government need steady budgets, and nearly half of states still lack them.
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