(TNS) – Late Wednesday night, the Connecticut Senate approved state regulatory laws on artificial intelligence in a wide range of packages aimed at educating and protecting consumers while requiring transparency and accountability in the emerging industry.
Gov. Ned Lamont, who remained skeptical of the bill early Thursday morning, made it easier to get used to the improved legislation by late morning as details were revealed. Both Gov. Matt Ritter and Chairman said they must review the late-breaking changes to the bill that led to a bipartisan 32-4 vote just before midnight.
Sen. James Maloney, a leading advocate for the law, spent most of Wednesday negotiating and revising the bill. This could fly in the face of Republican-controlled US Congressional plans and push for a 10-year moratorium that banned states from controlling AI development.
“Let me read it,” Lamont said after an unrelated press conference in Danbury. “I would like to thank Senator Maloney for everything he did to gain widespread support. My general concern is the first concern in an area that has AI regulations that can scare some innovators. But I’ll look at it.”
Maloney, a nationally recognized advocate for AI rules, who is co-chaired by the General Legislative Law Committee, has now removed two sections of the legislation in an attempt to at least gain implicit support from Lamont, who has repeatedly stanced in his long-standing position in which he is not surrounded by his support.
At about 9:30pm, the contract was fierce with support from Senate Republicans, but Maloney wasn’t sure Lamont would drop his opposition.
“The fact that we discussed it with them will be my hopes of transparency before they appear to be agreeing,” Senator Maloney whispered to a reporter about consultations with Lamont’s office. “But that was before the words were on paper.” The revised bill includes a new unit within the state attorney general’s data privacy department.
Maloney said a new version of the bill would remove the definition of algorithm bias. This has been found to discriminate against women and people of color in employment and housing. It includes new criminal sanctions for the use of non-consensual intimate images called deep fake rebenge porn.
“You’ll have the right to know that AI is being used,” he said. “We have the right to appeal the decision if it is based on incorrect data.” However, the industry’s impact in cases of discrimination has been removed to make it more attractive to our opponents.
“Look, I really need to be careful with the bill,” Lamont told reporters Wednesday, acknowledging that D-Milford’s Maroney worked with a variety of industries and advocacy interests, including Economic and Community Development Commissioner Daniel O’Keefe, who was opposed to the 2025 and 2024 general meeting-wide laws.
“I’m worried that all states are out and doing their own thing. A patchwork quilt of regulations. Connecticut is probably tougher and wider than most,” Lamont said. “What that means in terms of AI development here. I’d like to be very careful about that, as there’s probably a risk here.”
A year ago, Maloney’s efforts to regulate the burgeoning industry passed the Senate, but died without action in the state House under Lamont’s threatened veto.
“I understand people’s concerns about AI,” Lamont said. “I know about deepfakes. I know that our consumer protection laws are really strong. We’re going to hold people accountable. I think at the end of the day, “Connecticut is the leader in regulating AI.” And they slow Connecticut with 30 other states that take some of our best programmers. Illegal, I think we are in a good place right now. ”
Non-partisan legislative staff estimated that legislation would cost more than $3 million in the budget year that begins July 1st.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning before the house session, Lamont Chief of Staff Matt Brockman, Ritter, who had just met behind closed doors and Jason Rojas, the majority leader of the House, stressed the need to thoroughly review the AI bill.
“We’ll see how it unfolds,” said Ritter of D-Hartford. “There’s a long way to go. I think it’s a question of whether Connecticut should be the first state to regulate the internet like this. I think there’s a tendency to agree with that position as to where the governor came from.
“This is part of the challenge of balancing the benefits of the risks raised by AI against opportunities for economic development,” said Rojas of D-East Hartford. “Maybe it will help close the gap if they’re approaching,” Ritter added.
The Senate debate finally began Wednesday around 10:30pm, with Maloney standing to discuss details, including free programming to learn generative AI skills and qualify. “This is an important skill for our workforce,” Maloney said of the proposed AI Academy. “Building something isn’t enough. People need to learn.”
Another goal is to use state government AI to make it more efficient and support state services, he said. Gathering data on AI-related layoffs within the state will help future outreach to reduce the gap between wealthy and low-income families in Connecticut. Republican support was led by Sen. Paul Cicarella of North Haven and Heather Summers of Groton.
“It could streamline the process,” Cicarella said. “We think it’s evolving every day. It makes things move faster. It’s absolutely amazing. It’s all prompting. It’s very important, the education part. Now, we’re holding classes here in Connecticut.” He thanked Maloney for addressing industry concerns. “I want businesses to come to Connecticut,” he said it’s important to remove two sections that can disappoint the business.
Maloney warned that AI bugs could be misleading in screening job seekers and tenants seeking housing.
State Sen. R-Fairfield, who voted against the bill, warned that the unintended consequences of the bill amended during the day could put small employers at a disadvantage, and that they could thrust into the senators late at night. “Why are we in such a race that we’re the first?” he said. “If we’re wrong, it’s our business. We don’t have to be the first. We need to be the best.”
“This wasn’t the first thing,” Maloney said. Around 2010, it linked the rise of social media to rising social anxiety. “What if we’re right?” he said New York state recently invested $100 million in artificial intelligence. “Unfortunately, there are harms every day.”
Senate majority leader Bob Duff warned that in Washington the federal government appears to be at the mercy of big technology opposing all regulations. “This is a very difficult and complicated issue,” Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, said he warned that earlier versions of the bill had hampered businesses and hospitals. Senate President D-New Haven, Senate Speaker Martin Looney, said waiting for national regulations is acceptable, but it’s unlikely to happen in Congress and the white horse.
Sen. Gary Winfield of D-New Haven has been working on the issue at Maroney in recent years, but said the compromise bill doesn’t meet the concerns and the issue of algorithm bias among black and brown lawmakers. “We’ve come back from the protection we had,” he said. He said the revised bill protects businesses from the consequences of discrimination. “People will potentially be trampled on, but that’s fine. I’ve always been among those trampled on. Broken lives and broken people are often the cost of business.”
“I’m sorry Senator Winfield,” Maloney said. The industry is “more profitable than people,” citing recent research showing people with “black sound” names being discriminated against.
Focusing on a potential vote of rejection suppression in the Senate on Thursday morning, minority leader Vincent Candelora said that of the four GOP lawmakers who voted against the bill, Walcott’s conservative senator and moderate Fairfield Tony Fan. “We just don’t want to have a negative impact on developing industries,” he said. “There are both ends of the Republican spectrum that say this bill is problematic.”
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