Tech Explained: Here’s a simplified explanation of the latest technology update around Tech Explained: Mississippi AI Innovation Hub’s New Chatbot Targets Procurement in Simple Termsand what it means for users..
Mississippi’s AI Innovation Hub has focused its latest AI efforts behind the scenes, targeting the state’s procurement operations — and recently producing one of the Hub’s first operational AI solutions.
Procurii is a chatbot designed to help procurement staff quickly find and interpret relevant policies, procedures and regulations. The tool lets staff ask questions in plain language and provides answers drawn directly from official Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) materials, complete with references so users can verify sources. It also tracks the context of conversations, flags updates to policies and follows a structured process for retraining as information evolves.
As Shelley Thompson, ITS emerging technology manager, described it, Procurii is “internal, governance-aligned and advisory by design, strengthening a mission-critical operational backbone of ITS” and “does not replace ITS procurement processes, but augments them.”
The system was built with the help of a Mississippi State University student team in the AI Innovation Hub’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) sandbox, using a retrieval-based architecture tailored to the state’s procurement documentation. It was then submitted to the AI Innovation Hub and selected for development based on its potential to address institutional knowledge attrition risk and operational consistency.
And while originally created with procurement professionals in mind as initial users, ITS plans to publish Procurii as an open source tool that could be adapted for other compliance‑driven government use cases where retrieving and interpreting official documents is useful.
The project aligns with Mississippi’s overall modernization efforts. The Innovation Hub itself was created in early 2025 as part of a broader technology agenda in the state. Top priorities for state technology leaders listed in that plan included accelerating AI solutions, advancing cloud computing and modernizing procurement processes.
Working in partnership with AWS and the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network, the state created the Hub to provide agencies, universities and private partners with a space to collaborate, train students and build proof-of-concept applications that address government challenges. Those original goals also included creating a council to modernize procurement through new tools and shared expertise.
Now, Thompson said, Procurii is showing just how governance and innovation can coexist, due to the new tool being an example of “measured, responsible AI integration into a core state function.”
But as Mississippi continues to develop its AI strategy, it’s hoped that projects like Procurii will support the state’s long‑term technology goals as well.
“This is hopefully just the first in a long line of AI solutions across Mississippi state government agencies in the near future to improve public services, accelerate innovation, equip the workforce with AI skills, enhance coordination between agencies and boost economic growth,” Thompson said.