When Indiana state employee Ariana Thomas needed to track down a 1920s business license connected to a pending legal claim, she braced for a multi-week slog through dusty filing cabinets and scanned microfiche. Instead, she typed a simple question into a new system: “When did Hill & Sons Manufacturing register in Indiana?” The answer appeared in seconds. No advanced query language. No jargon. Just the data she needed—unlocked by artificial intelligence.
That’s the power of “Captain Record,” Indiana’s newly launched AI tool that’s shedding digital light on more than a century of state records. Built with generative AI on Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform, the system trawls through millions of documents—ranging from financial filings and licensing data to historical business registrations—all in plain English.
Welcome to the Future of Government Search
A Smarter Way to Find the Past
Captain Record’s launch is more than just a convenience for state staffers: it’s redefining how governments interact with their own archives. Gone are the days of complex database queries or manual deep dives. Instead, employees can now ask natural language questions—much like they would with a colleague—and receive targeted, accurate answers.
The tool works by reading and indexing unstructured data, meaning it can understand documents that don’t follow a specific format. That’s significant, considering that much of Indiana’s historical data was digitized in chunks over decades, without a uniform structure. According to GovTech, the initiative is one of the most advanced deployments of AI in state-level records management to date.
One surprising statistic? Indiana estimates it has over 300 million historical documents across its agencies—many of which have never been easily searchable until now.
Unlocking Use Cases from Courtrooms to Job Centers
The applications for Captain Record go far beyond internal convenience.
- Legal teams can quickly validate the authenticity of decades-old licensing records.
- Regulatory agencies can identify patterns in business registration or closure trends.
- Journalists and historians can gain instant access to primary-source state documents.
Take the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, for instance. It’s using a related AI tool called Pivot to help unemployed residents match with high-demand jobs by analyzing individual skills and market trends (source, additional details). It’s easy to see how Captain Record could further enhance this effort by providing historical employment trends or licensing requirements for emerging industries.
Even the Indiana State Police’s Limited Criminal History system, used in background checks, could benefit by integrating AI-based record searches, accelerating turnarounds for employers and law enforcement alike (source).
Setting a Precedent for Public Sector AI
While private companies have been leveraging AI to mine unstructured data for years, Indiana’s deployment puts government on the AI map in a big way. Industry experts see this as part of a broader trend of public sector AI adoption. The Congressional Research Service’s 2024 report noted that state governments are increasingly exploring generative AI for tasks ranging from grant management to fraud detection.
Even Congress itself is grappling with how such technologies should be regulated, underscoring their potential to shift not only workflows but governance philosophies (AI Task Force report).
Could this be the beginning of AI-powered archives across all 50 states? If early results in Indiana are any indicator, the answer might just be yes.
The Cost of Not Adopting AI? Missed Opportunities.
For governments dealing with aging IT infrastructures and staff shortages, ignoring tools like Captain Record might soon seem financially irresponsible—not just technologically backward. AI can flag inconsistencies in filings missed by humans, reduce duplicated records, and improve service quality across sectors. According to a Cornell Law Review analysis, AI’s success often hinges less on the technology itself and more on how well policymakers integrate it into institutional practices.
Indiana’s approach shows that thoughtful integration is very possible.
Looking Ahead: What’s Next for “Captain Record”?
As the tool evolves, developers are exploring ways to broaden its scope, possibly adding voice queries or cross-referencing live databases with historical records. Deputy CIO Tracy Barnes hinted at future capabilities that could synthesize trends across decades, helping state officials make faster, more informed policy decisions (StateScoop).
In short, what began as a tool to dig through the past might soon shape Indiana’s future.
And if your state isn’t paying attention, it might be searching in the wrong place.
Conclusion
If a 100-year-old business license can now surface in seconds, what else are we leaving buried in digital silence? Captain Record offers more than just answers—it raises a deep question about how much of our institutional memory has been effectively lost to outdated systems. The paradox is clear: in an era drowning in data, governments haven’t lacked information—they’ve lacked access. Indiana’s leap shows that with the right tools, even the most inert archives can become catalysts for progress.
So the real challenge isn’t whether AI belongs in the public sector—it’s whether we can afford not to embed it where it matters most. Our collective past holds insights that could shape everything from justice to jobs, yet those insights mean nothing if they stay locked away. Captain Record is more than a software breakthrough; it’s an invitation to rethink how modern governance preserves, understands, and activates its own history. The bigger question? Who else is ready to listen to what the past has to say.
