Artificial intelligence is gaining state lawmakers' attention, and they have a lot of questions

06.08.2023 - 02:27 / tech.hindustantimes.com

As state lawmakers rush to get a handle on fast-evolving artificial intelligence technology, they're often focusing first on their own state governments before imposing restrictions on the private sector.

Legislators are seeking ways to protect constituents from discrimination and other harms while not hindering cutting-edge advancements in medicine, science, business, education and more.

“We're starting with the government. We're trying to set a good example,” Connecticut state Sen. James Maroney said during a floor debate in May.

Connecticut plans to inventory all of its government systems using artificial intelligence by the end of 2023, posting the information online. And starting next year, state officials must regularly review these systems to ensure they won't lead to unlawful discrimination.

Maroney, a Democrat who has become a go-to AI authority in the General Assembly, said Connecticut lawmakers will likely focus on private industry next year. He plans to work this fall on model AI legislation with lawmakers in Colorado, New York, Virginia, Minnesota and elsewhere that includes “broad guardrails” and focuses on matters like product liability and requiring impact assessments of AI systems.

“It's rapidly changing and there's a rapid adoption of people using it. So we need to get ahead of this,” he said in a later interview. “We're actually already behind it, but we can't really wait too much longer to put in some form of accountability.”

Overall, at least 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia introduced artificial intelligence bills this year. As of late July, 14 states and Puerto Rico had adopted resolutions or enacted legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The list doesn't include bills focused on specific AI technologies, such as facial recognition or autonomous cars, something NCSL is tracking separately.

Legislatures in Texas, North Dakota, West Virginia and Puerto Rico have created advisory bodies to study and monitor AI systems their respective state agencies are using, while Louisiana formed a new technology and cyber security committee to study AI's impact on state operations, procurement and policy. Other states took a similar approach last year.

Lawmakers want to know “Who's using it? How are you using it? Just gathering that data to figure out what's out there, who's doing what,” said Heather Morton, a legislative analysist at NCSL who tracks artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy and internet issues in state legislatures. “That is something that the states are trying to figure out within their own state borders.”

Connecticut's new law, which requires AI systems used by state agencies to be regularly scrutinized for possible unlawful