Governor Mike Braun launched IN AI on April 28, 2026, a statewide initiative led by the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership to help Indiana employers adopt AI. The goal is named ("most AI-ready state in the nation") and the convening structure is named (CICP-led roadshows, peer-learning, partner-supported execution). The operating layer underneath, how a CEO measures whether their own team is ready, is left to operators.
This article walks through what was actually announced, who is running it, what the announcement leaves unsaid, and the operating layer a CEO needs underneath any state-level program, whether the company participates in IN AI or not.
What is Indiana's IN AI initiative?
IN AI is a statewide effort led by the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), launched by Governor Mike Braun on April 28, 2026, to help Indiana employers adopt AI inside their existing operations. The stated reach target is over 1 million Hoosiers and thousands of employers across the state.
The program is structured in three phases per CICP's program page:
- Exploration.
Use-case identification and readiness assessment. - Engagement.
Roadshows, workshops, and peer-learning groups. - Execution.
Project implementation with partner support and team training.
Named partners include TechPoint, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, High Alpha, Indiana University, Purdue University, and Google Public Sector. Named CICP member companies leading early use cases include Eli Lilly, First Internet Bank, Jasper Group, Hyndman Industrial Products, Langham Logistics, Darn Good Soup, and Elanco IT.
The contact path for businesses that want in is ai@cicpindiana.com.
Governor Braun framed the goal in the official announcement: "grow wages, create more high-quality jobs, and position Indiana for long-term economic growth by making it the most AI-ready state in the nation." When pressed by reporters on funding figures, the Governor did not provide a specific budget number. No executive order accompanied the announcement.
What does "human-centered AI" actually mean?
The announcement uses "human-centered AI" as the organizing phrase. Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Adams defined it this way in public remarks: "AI is only as powerful as how it is applied inside a business. Our focus is human-centered; using AI to increase productivity, strengthen companies, and give workers better tools to do higher-value work."
The term itself originates with Stanford HAI (Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence), the institute Stanford launched in 2019. Stanford defines human-centered AI as an approach that prioritizes human needs, values, and well-being throughout development and deployment, integrating insights from computer science, psychology, ethics, and design. The shared idea across both definitions is augmentation over replacement.
That definition is directionally correct, and operationally incomplete for a CEO. A CEO running a 200-person manufacturer in Elkhart needs more than a posture; they need a way to tell whether their finance team is actually augmenting human work or just renting a chatbot. The announcement does not provide that measurement.
Who is leading it?
The state-level lead is Secretary of Commerce David Adams. The executing organization is the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership, led by CEO Melina Kennedy, who said: "IN AI brings together the work already happening across Indiana into a shared strategy focused on one of the most consequential opportunities of our time."
CICP is a 25-year-old convening organization that operates four sector-specific subsidiaries: Conexus Indiana (advanced manufacturing and logistics), AgriNovus (agbioscience), BioCrossroads (life sciences), and TechPoint (technology). The IN AI initiative pulls those four sector lanes into one cross-sector program.
The Indiana Chamber endorsed the announcement. President and CEO Vanessa Green Sinders said: "For small businesses, in particular, AI can be a growth multiplier, helping them do more with less, reach new customers and compete with larger players."
Two member-company CEOs were named in the announcement as early use-case examples. Jasper Group CIO Chad Harter said: "Using AI, we're now able to extract all the information from these documents with 90% accuracy. This saves us five months of manual work that nobody really wants to do." Hyndman Industrial Products owner Joe Hyndman framed the operator's principle: "The key is to start with your workflow, build the solution around your business, and put it to work."
What is missing from the announcement?
Three things the announcement does not provide, none of which are critiques. They are the operating gaps a CEO will need to close before IN AI translates into real outcomes inside their own building.
A definition of "AI-ready" at the team level. "Most AI-ready state in the nation" is a goal without a measurement attached. There is no public scoring rubric for what makes one company more AI-ready than another, no benchmark for what a team should be able to do at minimum, and no shared vocabulary for the steps between awareness and orchestration.
A measurement framework for "human-centered." The term is repeated throughout the announcement; the standard underneath remains unspecified. A company can deploy AI in ways that hollow out junior roles and call it human-centered, or in ways that genuinely expand individual judgment and call it the same thing. Without a measurement layer, the phrase carries the weight of a press release, not the weight of a contract.
A path that respects the CIO/COO gap. Grant Thornton's 2026 AI Impact Survey found that 39% of CIOs and CTOs say their workforce is fully ready to adopt AI; 7% of COOs in those same companies say the same thing. That is a 32 percentage-point disagreement inside the same leadership team about the same workforce. State-level convenings tend to reach the optimistic side of that split. The work happens on the other side.
How does an Indiana CEO measure AI readiness in their own company?
A CEO needs a scale to read team proficiency. The 7 Levels of AI Proficiency framework gives operators a vocabulary for where each individual on a team actually is, ranging from minimal awareness at the entry point to full workflow orchestration at the top. Each level is defined by what a person can do unaided with AI tools in their actual job, not by self-rating or by hours of training completed.
Most companies are running a mix. A finance team where two people are at a higher level and eight are clustered at the bottom is a different operational reality than a finance team where everyone has cleared the same baseline. The first profile produces inconsistent output and shadow IT. The second produces a baseline a CEO can build on.
The free AI Proficiency Assessment gives an individual their own level in under 10 minutes, with the live level definitions baked into the instrument. The same assessment run across a team gives a leader a current-state map. Use it as a diagnostic.
That diagnostic is what makes "human-centered AI" measurable. Without it, the phrase stays decorative.
Three things to do this quarter regardless of whether you participate in IN AI
The state's program is opt-in; the work itself is not optional. These three moves are independent of CICP enrollment and apply to any Indiana company with 50 to 5,000 employees.
One. Get a baseline read on your own team's proficiency. Ten people taking the assessment this week is enough to surface the spread. The spread is the data; the average is mostly background.
Two. Pick one workflow where the operator (not the CIO, not the consultant) believes a real bottleneck exists. Document the current state in plain language. A workflow without a documented current state cannot be AI-modernized; it can only be AI-confused.
Three. Set a 90-day measurement target before deploying any tool. Hours saved per week. Error rate. Cycle time. Pick one number. Grant Thornton's "AI proof gap," the disconnect between investment and accountability, closes when a measurement target is set in advance, not chosen retroactively to justify the spend.
The state's announcement gives Indiana CEOs cover to start having the conversation publicly. The 90-day clock starts when the team can name their current state honestly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Indiana's IN AI initiative?
IN AI is a statewide effort led by the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), launched by Governor Mike Braun on April 28, 2026, to help Indiana employers adopt AI inside their existing operations. The stated reach target is over 1 million Hoosiers and thousands of employers across the state.
What does "human-centered AI" mean?
Indiana defines it as practical workplace application that increases productivity, strengthens companies, and gives workers better tools for higher-value work. The term originates with Stanford HAI, founded in 2019, which defines it as an approach prioritizing human needs, values, and well-being throughout AI development and deployment.
Who is leading Indiana's IN AI initiative?
The state-level lead is Indiana Secretary of Commerce David Adams. The executing organization is the CEOs of Indiana Corporate Partnership, led by CEO Melina Kennedy. CICP operates four sector subsidiaries: Conexus Indiana, AgriNovus, BioCrossroads, and TechPoint.
How can an Indiana CEO measure AI readiness in their own company?
A CEO needs a scale to read team proficiency. The 7 Levels of AI Proficiency framework gives operators a vocabulary for where each individual on a team actually is, ranging from minimal awareness at the entry point to full workflow orchestration at the top. The free AI Proficiency Assessment at assess.launchready.ai gives an individual their own level in under 10 minutes.
What is the CIO/COO disagreement about AI readiness?
Grant Thornton's 2026 AI Impact Survey found that 39% of CIOs and CTOs say their workforce is fully ready to adopt AI, while only 7% of COOs in those same companies say the same thing. That is a 32 percentage-point gap inside the same leadership team about the same workforce.
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