SEATTLE — There is a new, bipartisan effort by Washington lawmakers to study the potential impacts, good and bad, of artificial intelligence.
Amazon and Microsoft are just two of the many large tech companies investing heavily in AI – technology applied to help computers appear as if they are making decisions like humans.
“What does it mean for racial profiling? What does it mean for who’s making the decision for whether or not your kid gets into a certain college? The list goes on and making those hard choices and thinking about those issues now is going to be important for this task force,” said Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
Ferguson introduced new legislation, Senate Bill 5838 and House Bill 1934, that, if passed, would establish the first artificial intelligence task force. This group would study the benefits and risks and propose potential changes to the governor’s office and legislature.
“People’s concerns are well founded. But I think our job as a society, our job as leaders, is to prepare for any new technology,” Ferguson continued.
That task force would compile recommendations and present them to the AG’s office, the state legislature and the governor in 2025. Any regulations or new laws would need to be introduced and voted on by lawmakers.
A move to study the emerging tech has bipartisan support. The bill's partners include republican lawmaker Travis Couture.
“We didn’t just let automobiles drive around. We paved roads, we painted stop signs and put up speed limits. I think by having a small and responsible step of creating a task force filled with experts to look at how we dust off state law to make sure that this works for everybody,” Couture said.
While they hope to study the implications of the new tech – It is widely accepted that there is now slowing down the development.