By Dave Williams | Capital Beat News Service
ATLANTA – Georgia lawmakers may or may not pass legislation this summer to establish state standards to regulate emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
But one belief that emerged from the opening hearings of a state Senate study committee late last month is that AI will affect a wide range of areas of government policy, from economic development to health care, education, public safety and transportation. will affect dramatically.
“It's going to impact and change things like never before,” said Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, chairman of the Senate Study Committee on Artificial Development.
One area of public policy that is already being affected by AI is elections. So-called “deep fakes” are already appearing in political ads, which digitally alter a candidate's physical appearance or voice to say or do something the real person didn't say or do.
With AI's early manifestations deeply rooted in political advertising, some state lawmakers have made the process the focus of the General Assembly's first attempt to rein in the industry.
A bill introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives this year called for criminalizing the use of deep fakes in political ads. House Bill 986 overwhelmingly cleared the House only to flounder in the state Senate.
The impact of AI technology on public policy is already beginning to become evident. In the public safety arena, AI is already capable of taking 911 calls and dispatching responders, Albers said.
“Nobody is ever going to stop and there's not going to be an immediate response,” he said.
Similarly, the huge role AI will play in transportation is being demonstrated early on by the development of autonomous vehicles, drone delivery, and technology that allows cities to manage traffic flow. . Eventually, AI will drive transportation planners' decisions about where to widen highways or build bridges.
AI will also revolutionize education, Albers said.
He said that we have been teaching in the same way for 85 years. “During that time the world has changed eight times.”
In health care, AI's ability to consolidate data could help researchers develop cancer treatments, Albers said.
While much of the General Assembly's focus on AI has focused on its public policy applications, the legislature can actively encourage the private sector to use the technology as a tool for economic development. .
“We have a real opportunity to create a large number of (business) startups in this state,” said Pascal Van Hantenrich, a professor at Georgia Tech, director of Tech-AI at the university's AI Center, and a member of the study committee.
Anything the General Assembly does in the way of regulating AI should have an equity component, Albers said.
“We don't want to exclude people in this,” he said. 'We want to beat the digital divide.
Albers said the study committee will hold seven or eight hearings this summer and fall, some away from the Capitol. One of those sessions will be held in Augusta, home of the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center.
The committee is scheduled to issue recommendations for proposed legislation by December 1. If no legislation is passed, the panel will report to the full Senate.