BOISE — Idaho lawmakers are considering how the state can benefit from generative artificial intelligence, how to put safeguards in place for it, and how to regulate its use in the private sector. , or whether to regulate it.
The Interim Legislative AI Working Group met for a second time on Tuesday, hearing from industry and government resources as members prepare to potentially submit policy recommendations in January.
“We are currently using it in state government in some form, but…this is a lack of guidance, a lack of a framework,” Idaho Chief Information Officer and Administrator Alberto Gonzalez told the committee Tuesday. , due to the lack of guardrails,” he told the committee. .
The state IT department conducted a survey on AI this year, and of the nearly 3,000 employees across 45 agencies who responded, 23% said their agency currently uses generative AI, and another 23% said it was an option. He answered that he was looking for.
Most respondents said they use AI for content creation and process automation, Gonzalez said. Respondents’ top concerns were data privacy, ethics, regulation, and compliance issues.
Gonzalez told lawmakers he believes there is great potential for AI tools to improve efficiency, but there needs to be rules and guidelines for their use.
There are also concerns that it will displace jobs, he says.
Sen. Kevin Cook (R-Idaho Falls) said his first priority is regulating the use of technology, but his second priority is improving training so state workers can be upskilled rather than replaced. He said it was something to do.
National Conference of State Legislatures staff say states across the country are working to advance the technology.
“At NCSL, we have been tracking AI-specific legislation for the past six years, and as you can imagine, the number of bills introduced this time around has increased significantly,” said NCSL Program in Financial Services, Technology, and Financial Services Principal Chelsea Canada said. communication. “With no major federal legislation in place focused on regulating the use of AI or protecting people from the potential harms of AI and other automated systems, states are We are working to address potential harm.”
Idaho enacted a law requiring disclosure of deceptive AI-generated election content and banning AI-generated child pornography.
