In 2025, the 114th General Assembly will convene to begin the new Congress on Tuesday, January 14th. There are a number of important issues that MPs will address at the next General Assembly.
Lawmakers have already begun introducing legislation, but most new legislation for the 114th General Assembly is expected to be introduced in January or early February.
Below is a preview of two issues that lawmakers will consider next year.
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is rapidly penetrating nearly every industry in the state. From healthcare and entertainment to manufacturing, education, and more, artificial intelligence is a powerful but disruptive tool. Congress in 2025 will have a lot of discussion about the applications, advancements, and regulation of artificial intelligence.
Tennessee established a new artificial intelligence advisory board this year following legislation. The AI Council is comprised of 24 members, including state government officials and private sector leaders. A meeting will be held in 2024 and will continue in the coming years to develop a framework for Tennessee to safely and effectively utilize artificial intelligence.
The AI Council is responsible for understanding, promoting, and recommending the structure of the use of artificial intelligence in Tennessee. The law requires annual reports from the AI Council to be submitted by December 31, 2025, 2026, and 2027, and a final report and action plan by December 31, 2028. is required.
A key aspect of AI is identifying patterns in large amounts of data and using those patterns to perform actions such as generating content and making predictions. One of the biggest challenges with AI is balancing how to effectively leverage this innovative technology while protecting sensitive data. The council will specifically address this issue and aim to ensure the integrity of the large amounts of data used by AI.
In 2025, lawmakers will build on last year’s efforts to protect the creative industries from generative AI that clones or copies unique aspects of an artist’s work and reproduces art without the artist’s approval. There is also a possibility that it will be considered. For example, personalized generative AI cloning models can be used to impersonate humans, allowing users to create unauthorized forgeries using images and voices of others. In response to these issues, the 2024 General Assembly passed the Similarity Voice and Image Security Protection Act (ELVIS), which protects the voices of music artists from the misuse of AI-generated synthetic media.
Ensure consistency of laws across states
The General Assembly is likely to consider legislation next year that would prevent local governments from enacting voting measures that directly conflict with state law. The bill is a response to the city of Memphis putting a gun control referendum on the November ballot. The voting measure was in direct conflict with state law, which prioritizes local ordinances. Speakers Sexton and McNally have said they will push for a bill that would put a measure on the ballot that violates state law and withhold state shared sales taxes from local governments that don’t comply with state law.
Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) previews new legislation that will be taken up before the 114th General Assembly.
