GREAT BAY--Governments looking to expand their use of artificial intelligence should focus as much on preparing their employees and strengthening their data systems as they do on acquiring new technology, with a lack of AI skills identified as one of the major barriers to effective adoption in the public sector.

GREAT BAY--The idea sounds like science fiction: artificial intelligence becomes powerful enough to deploy thousands of autonomous digital agents across the internet, operating faster than humans can respond and potentially gaining access to computer systems around the world. But versions of that scenario are now being discussed seriously by some of the people developing the world's most advanced AI systems.