hartford – The Connecticut Senate on Wednesday advanced one of the nation’s first major legislative proposals to curb bias in artificial intelligence decision-making and protect people from harm, including fabricated videos and deepfakes.
The vote came despite concerns that the bill would stifle innovation, burden small businesses and make the state an outlier.
The bill was passed 24-12 after a lengthy debate. This is the culmination of two years of task force meetings in Connecticut and a year of collaboration between a bipartisan group of lawmakers from other states who are trying to stop a patchwork of laws across the country because Congress remains inactive. It is.
“I think this is a very important bill for the state of Connecticut. I think it's very important for the country as well, as a first step in passing a bill like this,” said Democratic James, the bill's lead author.・Senator Maloney said. “Even if the bill doesn’t pass this year, we’ve worked together as a state.”
Lawmakers from Connecticut, Colorado, Texas, Alaska, Georgia and Virginia who have collaborated on the issue are at the center of a national debate between civil rights groups and industry over core parts of the bill. I just realized that I was inside. Several members of Congress, including Maloney, participated in a press conference last week to emphasize the need for the law and how they are working with industry, academia, and advocates to develop regulations for safe and trustworthy AI. He emphasized that he has been cooperating with the government.
But Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding said he felt Connecticut's senators were being rushed to vote on the most complex bill in the session, which is scheduled to end on May 8. He said he was concerned the bill was “full of unintended consequences.” That could be harmful to businesses and residents in the state.
“I think our voters owe it to them to think more and consider it more before they push the button and say this is the law,” he said.
In addition to pushback from Republican lawmakers, some of Connecticut's top Democrats, including Gov. Ned Lamont, have expressed concerns that the bill could harm emerging industries. Lamont, a former cable TV entrepreneur, said: “This is a rapidly changing field and we remain concerned that we need to get this right and not stifle innovation.'' Spokesperson Julia・Mr. Bergman said in a statement.
Among other things, the bill includes protections for consumers, tenants, and employees from attempts to target the risk of AI discrimination based on race, age, religion, disability, or other protected classes. The bill would criminalize the dissemination of so-called deepfake pornography and deceptive AI-generated media in political campaigns, and would also prohibit digital watermarking of AI-generated images to ensure transparency. It is mandatory.
Additionally, certain AI users will need to develop policies and programs to eliminate the risk of AI discrimination.
The bill also establishes a new online AI Academy where Connecticut residents can take AI classes and ensures that AI training is part of the state's workforce development initiatives and other state training programs. . Some fear the bill doesn't go far enough, with supporters calling for companies to give consumers more information before using AI to make decisions about them. They are calling for reinstatement of the requirement that companies must disclose their information.
The bill is currently awaiting consideration in the House of Representatives.
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