Rhode Island’s artificial intelligence strategy boils down to a simple bet: If the state trains people faster and more broadly than everyone else, jobs, investment, and industry growth will follow. That’s the central takeaway from a new “action plan” that Governor Dan McKee’s AI Task Force is set to release at 3:30 p.m. at Rhode Island College. My colleague Chris Gavin will have full coverage at Globe.com/RI. In a draft version of the report, the task force offers a vision of AI as public infrastructure, not just private tech. It focuses on six sectors – schools, hospitals, finance, defense and maritime industries, state government and small businesses – and is supported by four themes: training the workforce, having government lead by example, building ethics and governance rules, and launching a statewide AI hub to help everyone plug in. The bigger picture: The task force’s report comes days after Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, published a startling 38-page essay warning that AI is going to “test who we are as a species.” “Humanity is about to be handed almost unimaginable power, and it is deeply unclear whether our social, political, and technological systems possess the maturity to wield it,” Amodei concludes. Rhode Island’s report is nowhere near that existential in tone, but it does carry a quieter version of the same message: move now or fall behind.  The document repeatedly frames AI not as a distant policy issue but as an immediate workforce and competitiveness challenge, arguing that states that organize quickly around training, governance and adoption will shape the economic benefits and those that hesitate risk watching them land elsewhere. What’s next: McKee, former U.S. representative James Langevin (who chaired the AI Task Force), and Rhode Island College President Jack Warner will likely say more about next steps later today. But two of the biggest questions raised by the draft report are about prioritization and buy-in. The task force treats every sector and every theme as important. It offers less clarity about what the state should do first, or what happens when resources, time, and political attention inevitably run short. The other open question is human nature. The report assumes educators will adopt AI with training, agencies will cooperate on data sharing, and workers will see retraining as an opportunity, not a threat. Some will. Some won’t. Still, it’s a meaningful starting point for McKee and his team. The plan puts Rhode Island ahead of many states in simply mapping the terrain. The harder work – funding it, sequencing it, and persuading people to go along – starts now.