The investigation by the state’s executive inspector general’s office led to an overhaul of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ use of so-called “employee benefit funds,” or EBFs. This money allows prison guards and other IDOC employees to throw holiday parties, pay for colleagues’ funerals, golf outings and other private functions.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.