The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
State’s AI bill being rewritten to keep it alive
Lawmakers hope to convince skeptical governor, industry
HARTFORD — The General Assembly’s leading advocate for regulating potential excesses of Artificial Intelligence is revising the bill to make it more palatable to industry opposition and a skeptical Gov. Ned Lamont, with just over two weeks left before the end of the legislative session.
State Sen. James Maroney, DMilford, co-chairman of the legislative General Law Committee, on Monday enlisted private sector supporters as well as Senate Democratic majority leaders in his quest to save portions of the bill.
The wide-ranging legislation is aimed at criminalizing deep fake porn and political shams, while supporting an online learning academy for the public and providing safeguards to track the origin of AI-made content.
“People need to be able to trust what they’re seeing,” said Maroney, who has participated in state and national groups studying AI in recent years.
“Until we can trust what we see and hear, I don’t think we’re going to get a more-full adoption. The fact that IBM, where the Watson Project started is now supporting the bill, you would hope would make a difference, and the fact that we are addressing small business concerns in creating a pathway to compliance.
“We’ve moved significantly, but I think we have also made the bill significantly better.”
During a morning news conference, Maroney said that by midweek, he will have a morerefined version of the bill, including deletion of a section that some industry officials criticized for being too restrictive to innovation at this point in the evolution of AI.
“Talking with a lot of large companies, that section was causing the most angst,” Maroney told reporters. “It wasn’t going to go into effect until 2026, and so my thought is we’ll put it into a task force and we can work on that and get it right next year.
“My hope is we’re moving in the right direction with that change.”
Matthew Wallace, the founder and CEO of the East Hartford-based VRSIM, which uses virtual reality to build training simulations, stressed the need
to have thoughtful approaches to AI, which is already everywhere, from subscribing to Netflix to obtaining bank loans. “That means it needs to be thought about,” said Wallace, who served on the state AI working group. “This should not be the social media of the next 10 years. I believe regulation is an i mportant way to avoid unintended consequences of technology.”
Naja Bennett of Bridgeport, representing the New Canaan-based LiveGirl advocacy group, said that deep fake pornography is a major threat to women and girls who need added protection.
“It should be noted that 96 percent of deep fake videos are pornography, in which nearly all involve women and girls,” Bennett said. “Imagine waking up and seeing your face on a video that you didn’t consent to. No one is safe.
“With the rapid spread and increase of AI and how fast the technology is developing, we don’t know how far this will go.”
The Judiciary Committee on Monday, acting on a referral, approved the bill, sending it back to the floor of the Senate. The legislative session ends at midnight on May 8.
But a major trade organization on Monday doubled down on previous criticism of the bill, calling for national legislation to be developed in Congress instead.
“Amid hundreds of state bills targeting artificial intelligence and AI applications, Congress must act now to pass appropriate, effective, and preemptive national rules for AI,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Virginiabased Consumer Technology Association.
“The U.S. has a duty to stay competitive in the global race to develop AI and other emerging technologies. Surveys show Americans want AI regulation and they want the federal government to lead in AI regulation through a balanced approach.”
Lamont told reporters in New Haven on Monday that he had not seen the latest version of the bill. “Sen. Maroney is a good man to work with,” Lamont said. “We want to do everything we can to protect individuals.
“Obviously the deep fake pornography and some of the election fraud out there is something we care deeply about. We care a lot about AI when it comes to workforce development.
“I do worry if it’s too burdensome and regulatory, all the startups around AI won’t be in
“Expecting Congress to do something would be like asking a huge stone formation to become animated, get up and dance.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-Bridgeport
Connecticut. They’ll be in Georgia or Texas. And I don’t want that to happen.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-Bridgeport, noted that the bill is such a priority that it was given the title of Senate Bill No. 2 this year. “This is fundamental,” he said, adding that Washington lawmakers have failed to act.
“Expecting Congress to do something would be like asking a huge stone formation to become animated, get up and dance.”
“We’re also looking to, in effect, protect technology, protect AI from a public backlash,” Looney said.
“If it’s unregulated and becomes such a source of great fear, it could create a really significant public backlash that could hurt the advancement of technology in a whole lot of areas.”